Michigan
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Four Wolverines Advance on First Day of NCAA Meet
6/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- University of Michigan women's track and field freshman Geena Gall (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc), senior/junior Arianne Field (Kalamazoo, Mich./Hackett), sophomore Alyson Kohlmeier (Sarnia, Ontario/St. Patrick's) and junior Erin Webster (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child) advanced in running events on day one of the NCAA Outdoor Championships Wednesday (June 7) at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.
In the 5,000m race, the Wolverines had runners in both heats, with Kohlmeier in the first heat and Webster in the second. In the first heat of the event, Kohlmeier posted a time of 16:07.68 to finish second in the heat and automatically qualify for the final. The Sarnia, Ontario, native was just 0.24 seconds behind heat winner Molly Huddle of Notre Dame (16:07.44).
In the second heat of the 5,000m run, Webster posted the fifth-fastest time, crossing the line at 16:10.31 to earn a spot in Friday's final. Webster's heat was more tightly woven within the second- and sixth-place finishers, as she finished less than a second away from the second-place time of 16:09.79, posted by North Carolina State's Julia Lucas.
Gall started off the day for the Maize and Blue as she was the first Wolverine to qualify for the next round. In the 800m run, Gall automatically advanced to Thursday's semifinals as she had the second fastest time in her heat and overall, crossing the finish line at 2:05.31. With a fast pace in the first half of the race, Gall was able to advance with a strong finish, as she was just 0.21 seconds behind California's Alysia Johnson (2:05.10).
Field qualified for Friday's 3,000-meter steeplechase final with a career-best time of 10:17.44 in the prelims, good for the final spot in the 14-person final. She had the seventh fastest time in the second heat and earned the last of the four qualifying spots based on time. Field shaved close to five seconds off her previous best of 10:22.22. She advanced to the NCAA finals for the first time in her career after running a race where she was always within qualifying position, staying in seventh and eighth. In the last 200m of the race she was able to pull away from Barbara Parker of Florida State, beating out Parker by 5.13 seconds.
Freshman Tiffany Ofili (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti) was 0.19 seconds short of qualifying for the semifinals with her time of 13.68, the fifth fastest time in the second heat.
Action gets started for Michigan on Thursday (June 8) as Gall competes in the 800m semifinals at 4:50 p.m. PDT, while Wolverines will also race in the 1,500m prelims (6 p.m.) and the 10,000m run (7:20 p.m.) at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.
Event Winners/U-M Finishers (Day 1)
100-Meter Hurdles (Preliminaries) Heat 2 1. Virginia Powell, Southern Cal 12.93Q 5. Tiffany Ofili, U-M 13.68 800-Meter Run (Preliminaries) Heat 2 1. Alysia Johnson, Cal 2:05.10Q 2. Geena Gall, U-M 2:05.31Q 3,000-Meter Steeplechase (Preliminaries) Heat 2 1. Shannon Wommack, Tenn-Chattanooga 10:08.20Q 7. Arianne Field, U-M 10:17.44q 5,000-Meter Run (Preliminaries) Heat 1 1. Molly Huddle, Notre Dame 16:07.44Q 2. Alyson Kohlmeier, U-M 16:07.68Q Heat 2 1. Mary Cullen, Providence 16:05.12Q 5. Erin Webster, U-M 16:10.31Q Qq qualified for the next round
Q U O T E S
U-M Associate Head Coach Mike McGuire
On Arianne Field's momentum carrying on to the next race ... "Well, you have to temper the excitement of making the final with getting hydrated and getting some rest. She will also have to come up with a race plan, and see if she can come back with that type of performance again. You have to put the excitement of qualifying on the shelf and focus on what has to get done within the next couple of days."
On staying focused at the NCAAs without experience at the big race ... "The preparation has been there, they're confident, and I think they're feeding off each other's energy. For instance Erin (Webster) and Aly (Kohlmeier) were warming up and asked me how did Arianne (Field) do, and that just let them know what they had to do for their race."
On the expectations for the upcoming days ... "Tomorrow we'd like to get Geena (Gall) and Nicole (Edwards) through to the final rounds and if we can do that, then we'd be in a situation where all five girls that had preliminaries would have advanced coupled with our 10K girls. They're giving great effort, they're well prepared, and they're well rested and sharp. So hopefully in the next few days they stay together."
Contact: Joseph Conrad (734)763-4423
Players Mentioned
