Weekly Release #16
5/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Upcoming Schedule
Fri-Sat., May 9-10 -- host Len Paddock Invitational (Ferry Field), 6:30 p.m./12:30 p.m.
Fri-Sun., May 16-18 -- at Big Ten Conference Outdoor Championships (Minneapolis, Minn.)
This Week: Home Sweet Home ...
The University of Michigan women's track and field team will host its first and only outdoor track and field meet of the season this Friday and Saturday (May 9-10), as it welcomes teams from around Michigan and Ohio to Ferry Field for the Len Paddock Invitational. The women's hammer throw kicks off Friday's competition at 9 a.m. with the first track event, the men's 110-meter hurdles, slated for 6 p.m. later that night. Saturday's action gets underway with the women's pole vault at 11 a.m., while the men's 4x100-meter relay starts things off on the track at 1 p.m. This is the final regular-season meet for the Wolverines before they attempt to defend their 2002 Big Ten outdoor team championship next weekend (May 16-18) at the conference meet in Minneapolis, Minn.
Results will be posted following the completion of each day's final event and can be found at MGoBlue.com. Admission for the two-day meet is free.
Why the Paddock ...
Lenwood Paddock was an assistant trainer at Michigan for 33 years who worked with all sports, including track and field. Paddock's career spanned the football coaching tenures of Fritz Crisler, Bennie Oosterbaan, Bump Elliot and Bo Schembechler. In his first season with the Wolverines, 1947-48, Michigan won national championships in football, ice hockey and swimming, the men's basketball team captured the Big Ten title and Charles Fonville set a world record in the shot put. On March 3, 1984, the Michigan track team re-named its training room the Lenwood Paddock Training Room.
Recapping Last Weekend ...
The Wolverines participated in two different times zones last weekend as 10 members of the distance squad took part in the Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. (May 2), while the rest of the team boarded a bus and headed to Columbus, Ohio, for the Jesse Owens Classic (May 2-3). Though thousands of miles away, a pair of Wolverines etched their names in the Michigan record book as senior tri-captain April Phillips (Fraser, Mich./Fraser HS) and junior/sophomore Andrea Parker (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS) broke school records in the hammer throw and the 3,000-meter steeplechase, respectively.
Phillips bettered her own Michigan mark in the hammer throw, earning a third-place finish in the event with a mark of 194-9 on the first day of the Jesse Owens Classic. Parker earned the school record in the steeplechase at the Cardinal Invitational, when she crossed the finish line of the event with a time of 10:38.18, breaking the old mark by more than a full minute.
Earning first-place finishes at the Jesse Owens Classic over the weekend were Phillips, junior Vera Simms (Mililani, Hawaii/Mililani HS) and sophomore Sierra Hauser-Price (Van Nuys, Calif./Notre Dame HS). Phillips won the shot put with a mark of 52-8. Simms claimed victory in the 400-meter hurdles with a clocking of 59.22 and Hauser-Price turned in a personal-best time of 11.51 to win the Invitational 100-meter dash.
AP Hammer ...
Senior tri-captain April Phillips reset her second school record in as many weeks when she marked an NCAA Regional qualifying distance of 194-9 in the hammer throw last Friday (May 2) on the first day of the Jesse Owens Classic. After setting the school mark in the shot put two weeks ago at the Drake Relays (April 26) with a throw of 53-11 1/4, Phillips bettered her own school-record distance in the hammer throw by exactly one foot when she sent the ball and chain 194-9. She previously set the record at the 2002 Big Ten Conference Championships when she earned second team all-conference honors with a toss of 193-9.
Well Hello Everybody ...
Following her record-breaking performance of 194-9 in the hammer throw, April Phillips has now set four Michigan throwing records during the 2003 season. Two weeks ago at the Drake Relays (April 26), Phillips reset the outdoor shot put record with a winning throw of 53-11. During the indoor season, she set the school mark in the shot put at 55-0 while at the NCAA Indoor Championships (March 15). She also etched her name in the Michigan record book with a heave of 63-1 1/4 in the weight throw at the Sykes-Sabok Challenge Cup (Feb. 15).
| Event | Distance | Date | Meet |
| Indoor Shot Put | 55-0 | 3/15/03 | NCAA Indoor Championships |
| Weight Throw | 63-1 1/4 | 2/15/03 | Sykes-Sabok Challenge Cup |
| Hammer Throw | 194-9 | 5/2/03 | Jesse Owens Classic |
| Outdoor Shot Put | 53-11 | 4/26/03 | Drake Relays |
Land, Sea and Air ...
In the first 3,000-meter steeplechase of her career and the third ever run by a Michigan athlete, Andrea Parker annihilated the school record when she posted a time of 10:38.18 for seventh place in the event at the Cardinal Invitational last Friday night (May 2) in Palo Alto, Calif. Parker's time was more than a minute faster than Anna Jones' (Omaha, Neb./Marian HS) mark of 11:47.13 set last year at the Big Ten Conference Championships (5/18/02) in Madison, Wis. Parker earned a trip to the NCAA Mideast Regional meet in the event as her time clocked in under the NCAA regional qualifying standard of 10:50.00.
Michigan's Hawaiian Punch ...
Junior Vera Simms posted her second double dip in the 400-meter hurdles in as many weeks last weekend at the Jesse Owens Classic (May 2-3). Simms ran NCAA Regional qualifying times in each race, clocking in at 59.22 to win the Collegiate and Open event Friday night and 1:00.58 for third place during the Invitational race on Saturday.
Wild Night Is Calling ...
Lindsey Gallo turned in the fastest 1,500-meter time in the Big Ten when she clocked in with an NCAA Regional qualifying and personal-best time of 4:16.35 last Friday night (May 2) at the Cardinal Invitational. Her time eclipsed the 4:19.80 clocked by Bethany Brewster of Wisconsin on April 19. Gallo's 4:16.35 bettered her previous best of 4:24.25 set early this year at the Yellow Jacket Invitational (April 5).
Rachel My Belle ...
Senior tri-captain Rachel Sturtz (Traverse City, Mich./Central HS) ran an outdoor personal-best and NCAA Regional qualifying time of 2:07.26 in the 800-meter run last Friday night at the Cardinal Invitational (May 2). Sturtz lowered her previous best in the outdoor event by 0.19 seconds, as her old mark was 2:07.45, set while winning the event at the 2002 Big Ten Outdoor Championships (5/19/02).
Where's Walter ...
Freshman Rebecca Walter (Beverly Hills, Mich./Groves HS) ran a personal best and NCAA Regional qualifying time of 16:18.29 for third place in the 5,000-meter run at the Cardinal Invitational last Friday night (May 2). Walter was the first university-affiliated runner to cross the finish line out of the 10-member collegiate field, as the top two finishers ran for professional track clubs.
Break It Down ...
As of the 2003 outdoor season, four regional meets will now be held to determine the participants for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Michigan is in the Mideast Region and will compete in its regional May 30-31 at the Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. In order for an athlete to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, she must finish in the top five of an individual event or be a member of a top three relay at the regional championship. The track and field committee will also select a group of at-large athletes to round out the remainder of the Championships field in each event, similar to provisional-qualifying marks in the past.
Big Ten Indoor Champs ...
With their most points (129.5) since winning the Big Ten Indoor Championships in 1998 (133), the Wolverines defended their Big Ten team title with a 14.5-point victory over meet host Indiana in the Hoosiers' Gladstein Fieldhouse (March 1-2). It marked the Wolverines' third straight track and field team championship (2002 indoor and outdoor) and fourth consecutive running team title (2002 cross country). Leading the way for the Maize and Blue were Big Ten individual champions April Phillips, Rachel Sturtz and Katie Erdman (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac HS).
Phillips, one of three Michigan captains, got things started for the Wolverines with her first career Big Ten indoor shot put title, with an NCAA provisional mark of 54-2 on Saturday. In Sunday's action, U-M received its second individual title when Sturtz, another tri-captain, ran a Big Ten Championships and school-record time of 2:06.02 for the second indoor 800-meter title of her career. Erdman, the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the year, gave the Wolverines their third event crown, crossing the finish line of the 600-meter run in 1:30.54. During prelims of the event on Saturday, Erdman set the 600-meter school record, clocking in at 1:30.33.
Earning All-Big Ten second team honors with runner-up performances were Stephanie Linz (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS), high jump; Vera Simms, 400-meter dash; Rebecca Walter, 5,000-meter run; and the distance medley relay team of Andrea Parker, Keri Kirk (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS), Sturtz and Chelsea Loomis (Traverse City, Mich./West HS).
Hail to the Victors Valiant ...
With its 2003 Big Ten Indoor title, coupled with the conference crown at the 2002 cross country championships, Michigan has achieved two-thirds of a proper triple crown. Michigan only needs to defend its Big Ten outdoor title to earn the triple crown for the 2002-03 academic year. U-M achieved the triple crown in 1993-94 with all three titles in the same academic year. The only other school to achieve this feat is Wisconsin, which has done so four times, most recently in 1996-97. As it stands now, Michigan has won the last four combined Big Ten titles in track and field and cross country.
Looking Ahead ...
The Wolverines will look to complete the Big Ten triple crown next Thursday through Sunday (May 16-18) in Minneapolis, Minn., as the Golden Gophers of Minnesota play host to the 22nd Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Michigan's defense of its 2002 outdoor team crown begins at 12:15 p.m. CDT Friday afternoon, with the heptathlon 100-meter hurdles.
Contact: Gene Skidmore (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
