Phillips Earns All-America Status in First NCAA Meet

Wednesday, May 29

Baton Rouge, La.

Michigan

NCAA Outdoor Championships (Day 1)

5/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field

BATON ROUGE, La. -- University of Michigan women's track and field junior tri-captain April Phillips (Fraser, Mich./Fraser HS) completed her first of two events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships Wednesday night (May 29) with an All-America performance, finishing 12th in the hammer throw with a mark of 189-10 at Bernie Moore Stadium on the campus of Louisiana State University.

Phillips

As the school record holder in the event and Michigan's lone competitor on the first day of action, Phillips marked the All-America throw on her second toss of the first flight of preliminaries. The mark stood as Phillips' only official toss due to a pair of fouls on her first and third attempts. The top eight finishers and the top eight Americans in each event earn All-America status, and four athletes who finished ahead of Phillips were from foreign nations.

With the 12th-place showing in her first NCAA Championship experience, Phillips becomes the fourth Wolverine to earn All-America status in a throwing event and first to earn the honors in the hammer throw. It marks the first time a Michigan thrower earned All-America status since Julie Victor (1990-93) was awarded the distinction in 1990. Michigan's last field event All-American was in 1999 when high jumper Nicole Forrester (1996-99) finished third at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships.

Phillips' All-America showing comes a week and a half after her second-place finish at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships (May 17-19), where she broke her school record for the second time in 2002 with a mark of 193-9. The distance ranked her 18th in the nation entering the NCAA Championships.

Phillips looks to build on her first NCAA experience as she competes in the shot put on the final day of action at the NCAA Outdoors. The outdoor school record holder in the event ranks 20th in the nation entering Saturday's (June 1) competition.

The Wolverines have a day off of competition at the championship meet before senior tri-captain Katie Jazwinski (Grand Rapids, Mich./West Catholic HS) and the nation's No. 1-ranked discus thrower, Melissa Bickett (Akron, Ohio/Revere HS), go into action Friday night (May 31). Jazwinski will be running her final race in the Maize and Blue when she takes to the track in the 5,000-meter run at 9:10 p.m. CDT. Bickett leads the rest of the discus field into action at 7 p.m. CDT, throwing sixth in the first flight of the event.

Event Winners/U-M Finishers (Day 1)

Hammer Throw 1. Jamine Morton, Clemson 220-6 (67.21m) 12. April Phillips, U-M 189-10 (57.87m)

Q U O T E S

U-M Throwing Coach Ann Takacs-Grieb
On April Phillips' performance ... "She threw with the consistent energy she had at Big Tens two weeks ago. She was ready to go. She knew she entered as quite the underdog so she just wanted to go out and set a personal record. Though she didn't PR, she really held her own and looks forward to carrying this over to Saturday's shot put competition."

Junior Tri-Captain April Phillips
On her first experience at the NCAA Championships ... "I am just glad to get the first one under my belt. I came in just wanting to get the experience and carry it on into Saturday's shot put event. Finishing 12th and earning the All-America status was a great added bonus."

Contact: Gene Skidmore (734) 763-4423