Six Current Student-Athletes Lead U-M's Pan Am Games Contingent
7/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
• Pan American Games Website | ESPN3 Coverage Schedule
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan will be represented by six current student-athletes, eight student-athlete alumni, three coaches and two athletic trainers from six different sports at the 2015 Pan American Games from July 10-26 in Toronto, Ontario. The athletes will be representing four countries: USA, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
The Pan American Games are the world's third largest international multisport games, surpassed in size and scope only by the Olympic Summer Games and the Asian Games. The Pan Am Games are held every four years for the athletes of the 41 PASO member nations, in the year preceding the Olympic Summer Games.
Check below for a sport-by-sport breakdown of who will be representing Michigan at the Pan American Games and how to follow along with the action:
Men's Artistic Gymnastics
The men's gymnastics squad will be represented by rising junior and 2014 NCAA All-American Tristian Perez-Rivera (Puerto Rico), while head coach Kurt Golder will serve as an assistant coach for the United States. The headliner of the competition will be 2014 U-M graduate Sam Mikulak, the reigning U.S. all-around champion, seven time NCAA champion, 17-time All-American and 2012 U.S. Olympian.
Men's artistic gymnastics competition commences Saturday (July 11) at 2:30 p.m. with team and individual event qualification. All-around finals will take place on Monday (July 13) at 12:45 p.m., while individual event finals follow on Tuesday and Wednesday (July 14-15).
Women's Soccer
The Michigan women's soccer program will be represented by one current student-athlete and two former players at the Pan American Games, with current senior Christina Murillo representing Mexico and alumae Nkem Ezurike and Shelina Zadorsky competing for Canada.
Murillo recently missed the 2014-15 academic year to train with Mexico in preparation for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, where she became the first Wolverine to compete in the international event. The defender from Ojai, California, has been playing within Mexico's National Team pool at various levels since 2010. In three years at Michigan (2011-13), Murillo started 57 of 59 matches, scoring two goals and contributing eight assists as a center midfielder and center back. Following the Pan Am Games, she will return to Ann Arbor for her final year of eligibility in soccer and to complete her degree in psychology.
Ezurike and Zadorsky were Wolverine teammates from 2010-13. Ezurike, Zadorsky and Murillo all helped the Maize and Blue construct one on its most successful seasons in program history in 2013, advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight for the second time in the history of the program.
Women's soccer competition in Toronto will kick off Saturday (July 11) with preliminary matches and conclude with the final match on Saturday, July 25. All games are available to watch on ESPN3. Follow along throughout competition with match-by-match updates on MGoBlue.com as well as on Michigan's Twitter and Facebook pages.
Softball
The USA Softball Women's National Team features a pair of Wolverines in rising senior Sierra Romero and alumna Amanda Chidester (2009-12), who head to Toronto less than two weeks after capturing gold with Team USA at the World Cup of Softball X, held June 29-July 5 in Irvine, Calif. Both Wolverines played significant contributing roles to the gold-medal effort; Romero knocked out a three-run homer in round-robin play against Japan before injury sidelined her late in the tournament, while Chidester tallied the game-winning two-run triple in the championship game against Japan.
Named Michigan's 2014-15 Female Athlete of the Year, Romero boasted a .449 batting average, .601 on-base percentage, 22 home runs and single-season program records in runs scored (85) and RBI (83) en route to first team All-America honors. She is in her first year with the USA Softball Women's National Team after previously competing with the U.S. junior team in 2012. Chidester is in her fourth year as a member of Team USA, contributing to a pair of silver-medal finishes at the ISF World Championship (2012, '14) and two World Cup gold medals (2012, '14) during her tenure. She was a two-time All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year honoree at Michigan.
Swimming and Diving
Michigan is sending six current or former men's and women's swimmers to Toronto. Four are representing the United States, including alums Emily Brunemann (2006-08, 2010) and Ryan Feeley (2010-13) and rising sophomores Gillian Ryan and Clara Smiddy. Another sophomore-to-be, Evan White, will represent Canada, along with alum Richard Funk (2012-15).
Brunemann, who won an NCAA title in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 2008, kicks things off with the open water 10K on Saturday (July 11). Smiddy had a stellar freshman season for Michigan, winning the Big Ten title in the 200-yard IM, claiming four NCAA All-America honorable mentions and setting three individual school records. Funk and Feeley were both members of Michigan's national championship team in 2013 and were both multi-time NCAA All-Americans, while White was named the Big Ten co-Freshman of the Year this past season.
Track and Field
Wolverine alumna Nicole (Edwards) Sifuentes will represent the women's track and field program in her native Canada. Sifuentes, who runs professionally for Saucony and trains in Ann Arbor with U-M associate head coach Mike McGuire, punched her ticket to Toronto by winning the 1,500m gold (4:20.29) at the Canadian Track and Field Championships (July 4). She doubled that weekend, also taking the event title in the 5K race, but she will compete only in the middle-distance event this month. Sifuentes has represented Team Canada in international competition on multiple occasions throughout her career, highlighted by making her first Olympic team in 2012.
Assistant track and field coach Sandy Fowler will also represent the program in a coaching capacity, as she has been asked to renew her 2014 role as assistant coach and lead throws coach, one she also occupied for Team USA at the 2013 IAAF World Championships. Fowler also was the head coach for Team USA at the 2005 IAAF Championships. In three seasons in Ann Arbor, Fowler has helped six Maize and Blue athletes qualify for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds and guided two to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, most recently helping U-M to its best program finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 2009.
On the men's side, volunteer throws coach Stephen Saenz will compete for Team Mexico in the shot put. Saenz helped both Derek Sievers and Cody Riffle to the NCAA Championships during the indoor and outdoor seasons, respectively. The duo also set the indoor (Seivers) and outdoor (Riffle) program records in the shot put, Saenz's premier event. Saenz was a three-time SEC champion and six-time All-American at Auburn and recently represented his native Mexico at the 2012 London Olympics. He was one of just three to compete in both the shot put and discus at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Athletic Medicine
Michigan athletic trainer Christie-Lee Miller will be representing the Wolverines at the Pan American Games as a member of the medical staff for USA Track and Field. Miller works with the women's lacrosse program at U-M but was selected to work with USA Track and Field for this event. Additionally, men's lacrosse athletic trainer Jeremy Marra will serve on the Team USA medical staff for goalball in the Parapan Games, which will also take place Aug. 7-15 in Toronto.
Michigan Roster for 2015 Pan American Games
| Name | Country | Position/Event | Notes |
| Men's Gymnastics (July 12-15) | Schedule | |||
| Tristian Perez-Rivera | Puerto Rico | all-around | U-M letterwinner 2014-15 (current) |
| Sam Mikulak | USA | all-around | U-M letterwinner 2011-14 |
| Kurt Golder | USA | assistant coach | U-M head coach 1996-present |
| Women's Soccer (July 11-25) | Schedule | |||
| Nkem Ezurike | Canada | forward | U-M letterwinner 2010-13 |
| Christina Murillo | Mexico | defense | U-M letterwinner 2011-13 (current) |
| Shelina Zadorsky | Canada | defense | U-M letterwinner 2010-13 |
| Softball (July 19-26) | |||
| Sierra Romero | USA | infield | U-M letterwinner 2013-15 (current) |
| Amanda Chidester | USA | catcher | U-M letterwinner 2009-12 |
| Women's Open Water Swimming (July 11) | |||
| Emily Brunemann | USA | 10K | U-M letterwinner 2006-08, 2010 |
| Men's Swimming (July 14-18) | |||
| Ryan Feeley | USA | 400 FR, 1500 FR | U-M letterwinner 2010-13 |
| Richard Funk | Canada | 100 BR, 200 BR | U-M letterwinner 2012-15 |
| Evan White | Canada | 200 IM | U-M letterwinner 2015 (current) |
| Women's Swimming (July 14-18) | |||
| Gillian Ryan | USA | 400 FR | U-M letterwinner 2015 (current) |
| Clara Smiddy | USA | 100 BK, 200 BK | U-M letterwinner 2015 (current) |
| Men's Track & Field (July 18-26) | |||
| Stephen Saenz | Mexico | Shot put | Volunteer throws coach 2015-present |
| Women's Track & Field (July 18-26) | |||
| Nicole (Edwards) Sifuentes | Canada | 1,500m | U-M letterwinner 2005-08 |
| Sandy Fowler | USA | assistant coach | U-M assistant coach 2012-present |
| Christie-Lee Miller | USA | athletic trainer | U-M women's lacrosse athletic trainer |
| Goalball (Parapan Games, Aug. 7-14) | |||
| Jeremy Marra | USA | athletic trainer | U-M men's lacrosse athletic trainer |
