Michigan
Power Five Invitatonal
Wolverines to Host National-Caliber Power Five Invitational
1/31/2018 5:15:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
» Teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC and -- including three other national top-25 teams -- will compete in the highest-profile meet of the new U-M Indoor Track Building's inaugural home schedule.
» The Wolverines' nationally prominent distance medley-relay team will make its season debut to headline Friday's action, along with Aaron Howell's first pentathlon of the year.
» Saturday action will be headlined by Big Ten high jump champion Claire Kieffer-Wright and U-M record-holder Jade Harrison at 200 meters.
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., Feb. 2-3 -- Power Five Invitational (U-M Indoor Track Building)
Feb. 2 -- noon; Feb. 3 -- 9:30 a.m.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- More than 100 track and field student-athletes ranked top-50 nationally from teams representing all of the "Power Five" conferences are set to converge at the University of Michigan this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 2-3) for one of the nation's premier indoor meets.
The national No. 17-ranked Wolverine women will host the two-day Power Five Invitational -- the highest-profile competition of the new U-M Indoor Track Building's inaugural season -- against national-caliber teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.
Squaring off against Michigan are Big Ten rivals Indiana and No. 11 Minnesota; ACC foes Duke, Louisville, Miami (Fla.), NC State and Virginia; No. 19 Baylor from the Big 12; No. 16 Stanford from the Pac-12 and Vanderbilt from the SEC.
The two-day competition culminates in an action-packed Saturday session featuring only top-seeded sections of both the track events and field events. Field events kick off the day at 11 a.m., followed by the track program starting at noon.
Saturday's action is preceded by a Friday session that begins at noon with the combined events. The full Friday night track program begins at 4:15 p.m. with prelim rounds for Saturday's 60 meters and 60-meter hurdles finals.
Three top-seed track finals headline Friday's schedule, starting with the 5,000 meters at 5:20 p.m., followed by the distance medley relay and the 600 meters. The evening closes with unseeded sections of the 200, 400, mile and 3,000 -- all of which will run top-seeded sections on Saturday.
Between the 11 women's teams in the field, more than 70 student-athletes are ranked top-50 nationally in their respective individual events, plus numerous national-level relay teams.
Doors open for spectators at 10:30 a.m. on Friday and 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, and attendance at the meet is free of charge. Parking is available in the lots both directly north and south of the new facility, which is located on 2540 S. State St.
Those unable to be at the world-class facility's 2,000+ spectator capacity bleachers can still follow from afar, both with live results from Delta Timing and by following live updates on the program's official social media channels.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• After finishing fifth at the NCAA Championships a year ago, the Wolverines' historically powerful distance medley-relay team will make its opening bid in its attempt to qualify for the NCAA meet for a nation's-best 16th consecutive year in a strong field on Friday night. The projected quartet of Claire Borchers, Jade Harrison, Hannah Meier and Gina Sereno -- of whom Sereno and Harrison competed on last year's All-America team -- will take on squads from Stanford and Indiana that were second and ninth at last year's NCAAs, respectively, as well as a Baylor squad that just missed the national meet.
• Though she will not be competing in her school-record 400-meter event, Jade Harrison will still lead the Michigan sprints corps as she takes on a strong field at 200 meters. Ranked No. 2 in Michigan history in the indoor single-lap event, Harrison will battle the likes of Baylor's Taylor Bennett, who was a second-team All-American in the event outdoors in 2017. Potentially also in play for Harrison is the 23.65 school record run by Cindy Ofili in 2016.
• Up-and-coming distance runners will get a chance to flash more of their potential against the best competition they have faced thus far in 2018. After soloing a career-best 4:45.75 mile at Saginaw Valley State last weekend, Hannah Meier will square off against the likes of as many as 13 other women who have cracked 4:50 in the mile, including reigning Big Ten winner Madeline Strandemo of Minnesota. After excelling at both 800 meters and the mile early this season, Claire Borchers and Hannah's twin sister Haley Meier will take a crack at 3,000 meters -- a distance Borchers is very familiar with as an NCAA Championships competitor in the outdoor 3,000-meter steeplechase.
• Headlining the field event action on Saturday will be a high-jump duel featuring reigning Big Ten Outdoor champion Claire Kieffer-Wright of Michigan against Minnesota's pair of title contenders in Taylor Wiebke and Heta Tuuri, as well as Miami's Erika Voyzey. Tuuri and Heta were sixth and tied for seventh, respectively, at the Big Ten Outdoors last year, though Wiebke has Kieffer-Wright bested by a centimeter when comparing career bests.
• Reigning Big Ten Outdoor heptathlon champion Aaron Howell will compete in her first indoor pentathlon of the year on Friday. The five-component event (60-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 meters) begins at 12:30 p.m. and will wrap up at 5:15 p.m. With two other athletes in the field who have topped 4,000 points -- Aaron's personal record from 2015 is 4,115 -- and Howell already exceeding or nearing career bests in several of those events, she could be due for a big score.
NEWS AND NOTES
• The Wolverines checked in at No. 17 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Rankings, down five spots from the preseason. Michigan is the fourth-highest ranked team of the seven top-25 squads from the Big Ten, just behind No. 11 Minnesota, No. 13 Wisconsin and No. 15 Ohio State. Only the SEC has more teams (11) appearing in the rankings than the Big Ten.
• Though she was beaten out for back-to-back Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors by a pair of nation-leaders from Iowa and Penn State, that takes nothing from the fact that Erin Finn posted one of the finest races at 3,000 meters ever run by a collegian. Her 8:58.69 was not only a school record but also the fastest time ever run in the state of Michigan, the fastest time ever run by a Michigander, the third-fastest time in Big Ten history, the third-fastest time ever run by a collegian in the month of January (or December) and the 23rd-fastest time in collegiate history overall.
• Finn now boasts indoor career bests of 15:23.16 over 5,000 meters, 8:58.69 for 3,000 meters and 4:38.35 in the mile. Only four other women in collegiate history -- and none from the Big Ten -- have clocked sub-15:25, sub-9:00 and sub-4:40 in their careers: Jenny Barringer, Emily Sisson, Kim Smith and Christine McMiken.
• Finn rocketed to the top of the conference standings with her 3,000-meter run and her season-opening mile, leading several other Wolverines excelling at the Big Ten level through two meets:
| Name | Event | Rank |
| Meghan Marias | 60m | 8 |
| Haley Meier | 800m | 5 |
| Claire Borchers | 800m | 7 |
| Hannah Meier | 800m | 10 |
| Erin Finn | Mile | 1 |
| Gina Sereno | Mile | 2 |
| Claire Borchers | Mile | 5 |
| Hannah Meier | Mile | 9 |
| Erin Finn | 3000m | 1 |
| Avery Evenson | 3000m | 6 |
| Madeline Trevisan | 3000m | 7 |
| 4 x 400m Relay | 6 | |
| Claire Kieffer-Wright | High Jump | 2 |
• At No. 2 nationally for 3,000 meters and No. 3 in the mile, Finn is back in the national-title hunt in her final year at Michigan. Here's the full list of Wolverines who have logged top-50 performances among the full NCAA Division I ranks:
| Name | Event | Rank |
| Haley Meier | 800m | 41 |
| Claire Borchers | 800m | 49 |
| Erin Finn | Mile | 8 |
| Gina Sereno | Mile | 22 |
| Claire Borchers | Mile | 33 |
| Hannah Meier | Mile | 40 |
| Erin Finn | 3000m | 2 |
| Avery Evenson | 3000m | 36 |
| Madeline Trevisan | 3000m | 45 |
| 4 x 400m Relay | 47 | |
| Claire Kieffer-Wright | High Jump | 24 |
Players Mentioned
