DES MOINES, Iowa -- Western Michigan's Iris Campbell fell short of advancing to the finals in the 400 meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Drake University on Wednesday evening.

Campbell finished sixth and her heat and 17th overall with a time of 58.81 seconds. To qualify for the finals she needed to finish either in the top two of her heat or with the two fastest remaining times after the top six qualifiers.

"Last year we came here and she had some difficulty," said head coach Kelly Lycan. "She comes here and runs under 59 seconds and she has only done that a handful of times in her career so I think she performed pretty well."

According to coach Lycan, Campbell did not close as well as she did when she had the ninth fastest time at the NCAA East Preliminary Quarterfinals.

"Technically she ran a clean race and didn't hit any hurdles," added Lycan. "She ran faster than a lot of great performers and to finish 17th in the country, that is pretty good. All-American doesn't come easy, that is elite company."

Although Campbell didn't advance she still competes as part of the 4x400 meter relay team tomorrow evening along with Andrea Arnold, Leya Munwam and Victoria Chatman. The relay squad is riding high after finishing seventh in the East Preliminary Quarterfinals ahead of the likes of Notre Dame, Penn State, Memphis, Cincinnati, Michigan State, Rutgers, Indiana, Mississippi and others.

"If we can stay close in that lead pack I think we will be in the thick of it," explained Lycan. "We have some really good teams in our heat and we need to stay close to them at the beginning of the race we could run really fast."

WMU competes in the second heat against TCU, Arkansas, Illinois, Oregon, Ohio State, Georgetown and UCLA. To advance they must finish either first or second in their heat or with the next two fastest qualifying times.