Michigan
Music City Challenge
Wolverine Women Set for Final Regular-Season Test at Vanderbilt
2/6/2019 2:50:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
» The full Wolverine women's team hits the road for the only time this indoor season as it heads to Vanderbilt to test itself one last time before the Big Ten Indoor Championships in Ann Arbor.
» Michigan's top competitors in every event area will be in action, including distance runners Aurora Rynda and Hannah Meier, sprinters Jade Harrison and Chloe Foster, and throwers Bailey Baker and Kayla Deering.
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., Feb. 8-9 -- Vanderbilt Music City Challenge (Nashville, Tenn.), 3:30 p.m. CST / 10:30 a.m. CST
Meet Information | Live Results
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships set to come to Ann Arbor in less than three weeks, the University of Michigan women's team is hitting the road to Nashville, Tennessee, this weekend for its last big test at the Vanderbilt Music City Challenge on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 8-9).
All of this season's top Wolverines will be in action in the two-day competition, which will pit U-M against opponents from around the country, including the likes of Alabama, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota State, Ole Miss and host Vanderbilt, among others.
With 39 Wolverine women scheduled to line up and compete on Friday and/or Saturday, this weekend will serve as the last big push for the squad ahead of the Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor on Feb. 22-23. Only select entries will compete at next weekend's Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame.
Action for the Wolverines begins at 3:30 p.m. CST on Friday and 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. Fans can follow along with live results provided by CFPI Timing and on the official @umichtrack Twitter account.
The nationally ranked distance duo of Hannah Meier and Aurora Rynda headline the Wolverine contingent. Meier, who is ranked top-40 nationally in three different events, will chase a quick time in the mile, while Rynda -- top-20 nationally at a pair of distances -- will look to lower an already impressive 2:06.80 time for 800 meters.
Freshmen Camille Davre and Anne Forsyth -- the No. 1 and No. 3 freshmen at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November -- will both compete at 3,000 meters.
Rynda also will figure into the sprints as she teams up with the sprints duo of Jade Harrison and Chloe Foster -- also both ranked nationally at 400 and 600 meters, respectively -- as well as Julia Hall to go after the school record in the 4x400 relay. Harrison, Foster and Hall all ran legs of last year's 3:37.88 school record at the Big Ten Championships, and Rynda already joined forces with them earlier this season to run a 3:39.67 clocking that represents the fastest time a Michigan squad has ever run during the regular season.
Harrison will compete individually at 200 meters, while Foster will step all the way up to 800 meters.
The Michigan effort in the field will be led by school-record weight throwers Bailey Baker and Kayla Deering.
Wolverine Bites
• The Wolverines, led by head coaches James Henry and Jerry Clayton, are ranked No. 29 nationally in the third regular-season edition of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Track and Field Rating Index (TFRI).
• Michigan is upholding its reputation as one of the best mid-distance schools in the nation. The quartet of Aurora Rynda, Hannah Meier, Lauren Biggs and Alice Hill are ranked No. 1 for 800 meters in the USTFCCCA Event Squad Rankings, and Michigan is the only school in the country with four women who have run faster than 2:10 so far this season. Michigan's four-woman crews in the mile and 3,000 meters -- both led by Meier -- are ranked No. 14 and No. 10 nationally.
• Meier is the only woman on the team ranked top-50 nationally in three different events. She is No. 20 at 3,000 meters (9:20.34), No. 28 in the mile (4:40.35) and No. 44 at 800 meters (2:08.67). She is just the third woman in school history, joining legends Nicole Edwards and Lindsey Gallo, to go sub-2:10 at 800 meters, 4:41 or faster in the mile and 9:21 or faster at 3,000 meters.
• The true freshman Rynda became the first Wolverine woman in 2019 to earn Big Ten Indoor Track Athlete of the Week honors two weeks ago following a scintillating performance at the Simmons-Harvey Big Ten Invitational. She clocked a Michigan-freshman-record 1:29.55 for 600 meters to earn the win and the Big Ten-leading mark in 2019, and came back to run a leg of the Big Ten-leading 4x400 relay. She followed that up in her next outing with a 2:06.80 clocking for 800 meters that moved her to No. 17 nationally and No. 13 in Michigan history.
• Rynda, the No. 2 freshman in the country for 600 meters and 800 meters, is just one of the first-year Wolverines excelling in their first year of NCAA competition. Anne Forsyth is No. 5 among freshmen in the mile, while Camille Davre is No. 12 among freshmen nationally at 3,000 meters. Lauren Biggs is the 12th-fastest freshman in the country so far at 800 meters.
• In the weight throw event alone, the first two meets of the year at home produced three school records. After Bailey Baker broke the 16-year-old record in the sixth-and-final round at the season-opening Wolverine Invitational, teammate Kayla Deering came back on the very next throw with a mark of 19.53m (64 feet, 1 inch) to break Baker's record. At the Simmons-Harvey Big Ten Invitational, Baker responded by tying Deering's mark to earn a share of the school record. The two are tied for No. 40 nationally. While neither woman broke the record in the third and final regular-season home meet, they both managed to surpass 19 meters for the second time this year.
• While it is not an event contested at the NCAA Championships, the 600 meters is run at the Big Ten Indoor Championships -- and Michigan is well-represented at the distance. In addition to the conference-leading Rynda, Chloe Foster is ranked No. 20 nationally, Biggs is ranked No. 37 and Hill is No. 43.
When to Watch the Wolverines
| Friday (Feb. 8) | Event | Meet | Time (ET) |
| Katt Miner | High Jump | Final | 4:30 PM |
| Bailey Baker | Weight Throw | Final | 4:30 PM |
| Kayla Deering | Weight Throw | Final | 4:30 PM |
| Briana Nelson | Weight Throw | Final | 4:30 PM |
| Jeryne Fish | Long Jump | Final | 6:00 PM |
| Theresa Mayanja | Long Jump | Final | 6:00 PM |
| Jade Harrison | 200 meter dash | Final | 8:00 PM |
| Michigan | Distance Medley Relay | Final | 9:00 PM |
| Audrey Belf | 5000 meter run | Final | 9:30 PM |
| Kathryn House | 5000 meter run | Final | 9:30 PM |
| Anna West | 5000 meter run | Final | 9:30 PM |
| Saturday (Feb. 9) | Event | Meet | Time (ET) |
| Jessica Mercier | Pole Vault | Final | 11:30 AM |
| Theresa Mayanja | 60 meter hurdles | Prelims | 2:00 PM |
| Sydney McGinley | 60 meter hurdles | Prelims | 2:00 PM |
| Lauren Rodriguez | 60 meter hurdles | Prelims | 2:00 PM |
| Michaiah Thomas | 60 meter hurdles | Prelim | 2:00 PM |
| Erin Connor | Shot Put | Final | 3:00 PM |
| Maegan McCarthy | Shot Put | Final | 3:00 PM |
| Briana Nelson | Shot Put | Final | 3:00 PM |
| Meg Darmofal | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Micaela DeGenero | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Alice Hill | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Hannah Meier | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Jena Metwalli | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Lexi Munley | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Jacalyn Overdier | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Raquel Powers | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Faith Reynolds | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Julia Vanitvelt | Mile | Final | 3:20 PM |
| Julia Hall | 400 meter dash | Final | 4:25 PM |
| Jenna Reid | 400 meter dash | Final | 4:25 PM |
| Lauren Biggs | 800 meter run | Final | 4:55 PM |
| Haley Click | 800 meter run | Final | 4:55 PM |
| Chloe Foster | 800 meter run | Final | 4:55 PM |
| Carola Jansohn | 800 meter run | Final | 4:55 PM |
| Aurora Rynda | 800 meter run | Final | 4:55 PM |
| Sydney Badger | 3000 meter run | Final | 5:25 PM |
| Rachel Coleman | 3000 meter run | Final | 5:25 PM |
| Camille Davre | 3000 meter run | Final | 5:25 PM |
| Anne Forsyth | 3000 meter run | Final | 5:25 PM |
| Kayla Keane | 3000 meter run | Final | 5:25 PM |
| Maddy Trevisan | 3000 meter run | Final | 5:25 PM |
| Michigan A | 4x400 relay | Final | 5:55 PM |
| Michigan B | 4x400 relay | Final | 5:55 PM |
Players Mentioned
