Michigan
NCAA Outdoor Championships
NCAA Championships Await Four Michigan Women
6/5/2018 11:43:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
» Big Ten champions Claire Borchers (3,000m steeplechase) and Haley Meier (1,500m), along with Sarah Zieve (steeplechase), will represent the Wolverines at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
» All three will have semifinal rounds on Thursday (June 7) as they seek to advance to finals on Saturday (June 9).
THIS WEEK
Thu- Sat, June 7-9 -- NCAA Outdoor Championships (Eugene, Ore.), 4:16 p.m. PST (Thu.) | 12:30 p.m. PST (Fri.) | 11:30 a.m. PST (Sat.)
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Watch Live on ESPN Networks | Full Broadcast Schedule
Thursday Track Events -- ESPN2 national broadcast (4 p.m. PST)
Friday Heptathlon Events -- ESPN3 live stream (12:20 p.m. PST)
Saturday Heptathlon Events -- ESPN3 live stream (11:20 p.m. PST)
Saturday Track Events -- ESPN national broadcast (4 p.m. PST)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Collegiate track and field's biggest stage -- the NCAA Outdoor Championships -- will feature four women from the University of Michigan as the women's portion of the national meet gets underway in Eugene, Oregon, from Thursday through Saturday (June 7-9).
Claire Borchers, Sarah Zieve and Haley Meier earned the right to compete at Historic Hayward Field against the country's top collegians this week by way of their performances at the NCAA East Preliminaries two weekends ago, with Aaron Howell earning a last-minute trip after one of the heptathlon qualifiers ahead of her dropped out with an injury.
Borchers and Zieve qualified in the 3,000-meter steeplechase -- Borchers for the second year in a row and Zieve for the first time in her career -- while Meier extended Michigan's streak of national 1,500-meter qualifiers to seven years in a row. Only Oregon (11) has a longer active streak.
Howell, who finished the regular season ranked 25th nationally, was the first woman out of the 24-competitor heptathlon field at the NCAA meet. After initially not qualifying and seeing her senior year come to an end at the East Prelims two weekends ago in the high jump, Howell's Michigan career was given second life this past weekend as she learned one of the 24 qualifiers would be unable to compete due to injury and that she would replace her in the field.
They will compete on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday sessions at Historic Hayward Field. With the exception of Howell's heptathlon on Friday and Saturday, all women's events at the Championships will be contested Thursday and Saturday. The men, including Michigan's five qualifiers, will take center stage on Wednesday and Friday.
Action on the track on four days will be nationally televised on ESPN2 (Wednesday and Thursday) and ESPN (Friday and Saturday) with live field event streams available at ESPN.com.
The full schedule of competition for the quartet can be found below.
| Wolverines Competing This Weekend | |||
| THURSDAY, JUNE 7 | |||
| Name | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Haley Meier | 1500 meter run | Semifinals (Heat 2) | 7:16 PM |
| Claire Borchers | Steeplechase | Semifinals (Heat 1) | 7:32 PM |
| Sarah Zieve | Steeplechase | Semifinals (Heat 1) | 7:32 PM |
| FRIDAY, JUNE 8 | |||
| Name | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Aaron Howell | 100 meter hurdles | Heptathlon | 3:30 PM |
| Aaron Howell | High Jump | 4:30 PM | |
| Aaron Howell | Shot Put | 6:30 PM | |
| Aaron Howell | 200 meter dash | 10:13 PM | |
| SATURDAY, JUNE 9 | |||
| Name | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Aaron Howell | Long Jump | Heptathlon | 2:30 PM |
| Aaron Howell | Javelin | Heptathlon | 3:45 PM |
| Haley Meier * | 1500 meter run | Final | 6:41 PM |
| Claire Borchers * | Steeplechase | Final | 6:54 PM |
| Sarah Zieve * | Steeplechase | Final | 6:54 PM |
| Aaron Howell | 800 meter run | Heptathlon | 8:13 PM |
| Aaron Howell | Heptathlon | Heptathlon | 8:20 PM |
* = Pending advancement from the first round
Borcher, Meier and Zieve advanced to Eugene by way of finishing among the 12 qualifiers in their respective events at the NCAA East Prelims.
Michigan's four representatives will be going for both team and individual accolades. Should they finish top-eight in their events, they will have the opportunity to score as many as 10 points toward Michigan's team total (10 for first down through 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top eight) and earn first team All-America honors.
Second team All-America honors will be bestowed upon those placing ninth through 16th, with the remainder of the field earning Honorable Mention awards.
In addition to the wall-to-wall coverage on the ESPN family of networks, live results are available from Flash Results. Stay tuned into the official social media platforms of the program for the most up-to-date information throughout the weekend.
EVENT-BY-EVENT BREAKDOWN
3,000-Meter Steeplechase
Two semifinal heats of 12 competitors each. The top five finishers in each heat will qualify for the 12-woman final, which will be rounded out with the two fastest semifinalists who were not top-five in their heats.
With both Borchers and Zieve set to compete in the NCAA steeplechase semifinals, Michigan is one of only two schools in the meet (Furman being the other) with two female steeplechasers.
Borchers is back in Eugene for the second year in a row, looking to improve on her 17th-place finish a year ago and make the 12-woman final. Borchers may only be ranked 16th in the field at 9:58.36, but a newfound comfort as a frontrunner has led to a pair of sub-10-minute performances and a Big Ten title in the event. Dyestat has projected her for a sixth-place finish.
While Borchers has run from the front to get to Eugene, Zieve has taken a different route. After a blistering last lap propelled her from eighth to bronze at the Big Ten Championships, she once again left it until late at the NCAA East Prelims, going from 11th with two laps to go to third at the line to clinch her bid to nationals. At 10:07.58 she may have the slowest career best of anyone in the field, but she has shown that there is no one more formidable in a late-race situation.
Both Borchers and Zieve will run in the first heat of the steeplechase semifinals.
1,500 Meters
Two semifinal heats of 12 competitors each. The top five finishers in each heat will qualify for the 12-woman final, which will be rounded out with the two fastest semifinalists who were not top-five in their heats.
Though reigning national champion Jaimie Phelan was unable to recover from injury in time to mount a defense of her crown, teammate Meier will be in the field looking to keep the trophy in Ann Arbor. Meier, a Big Ten indoor champion and second team All-American in the mile this winter, is once more hitting her stride this outdoor season.
Her last two meets have seen her claim the Big Ten silver medal in the 1,500 meters and then set a new personal best at 4:15.47 at the NCAA East Prelims.
Not only has Michigan now advanced a 1,500-meter runner to NCAAs in seven straight years, but Meier now also has a chance to extend Michigan's streak of seasons with first team All-Americans to six years. No other team in the country carries an active streak of more than two years in that department.
Heptathlon
Seven events over the course of two days. The 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200 meters will take place Friday, followed by the long jump, javelin and 800 meters on Saturday. Points are awarded in each event based on the quality of the performance, with the heptathlete carrying the highest score after all seven events to be declared the winner.
After finishing the regular season ranked 25th nationally in an event in which only 24 advance to nationals, Howell is getting an unexpected extension of her Michigan career. With the withdrawal of one of the original 24 qualifiers, Howell was moved up into the NCAA Championships field to get one final chance at earning first team All-America honors.
With nearly a month now having passed since taking fourth at the Big Ten Championships with a score of 5,527 points, Howell will be well-rested and ready to make a run at her career best of 5,541 points from April.
A big score for Howell could be in the offing as she has set new personal records in three of the seven components -- the high jump, shot put and javelin -- this season with room to improve in several others.
This will mark her second appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, having also competed as a freshman in 2014. She scored 5,294 points to take 16th overall for second team All-America honors, outperforming her pre-meet seeding at No. 20.
Players Mentioned
