Michigan
Music City Invitational
Michigan Women Break School Record in 4x400 Relay
2/15/2020 7:21:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A school record fell for the second day in a row as the University of Michigan women's track and field team closed out its final days at the Arkansas Tyson Invitational and the Vanderbilt Music City Challenge.
The 4x400 relay team of Emma Lane, Jade Harrison, Julia Hall and Chloe Foster smashed the Michigan record and cemented its Big Ten lead in the event at Arkansas, while the mid-distance crew -- headlined by Aurora Rynda, Meg Darmofal and Alice Hill -- all finished top-two in career-best fashion at the Vanderbilt Music City Challenge.
The record in the relay comes one day after weight thrower Courtney Jacobsen broke the school record in her signature event at Vanderbilt on Friday.
The Wolverines will return one final time to the world-class U-M Indoor Track Building for the 2020 home indoor finale at the Silverston Invitational on Friday, Feb. 21. The Big Ten Indoor Championships await one week later on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28-29, in Geneva, Ohio.
Arkansas Tyson Invitational
Site: Fayetteville, Ark. (Randall Tyson Track Center)
Event: Arkansas Tyson Invitational (Day 2 of 2)
U-M Result: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: Friday, Feb. 21 -- host Silverston Invitational (U-M Indoor Track Building)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The 4x400 relay team of Emma Lane, Jade Harrison, Julia Hall and Chloe Foster closed out Michigan's weekend at the Arkansas Tyson Invitational in style on Saturday (Feb. 15) with a decisive new school record.
The quartet combined to clock a 2020 Big Ten-leading 3:36.70, breaking a school record that had stood since the 2018 Big Ten Championships at 3:37.88. Three of the four legs of that 2018 relay: Harrison, Hall and Foster.
Lane kicked things off with a 55.32 lead-off leg, just shy of her open 400-meter personal best. With that split, Lane handed off to school record-holder Harrison in second place. Harrison clocked 53.94, maintaining a two-thirds-of-a-second edge over Baylor, with both trailing leader Kansas by over a half-second.
Harrison gave way to Hall, who ran well below her open 400-meter best with a 54.45 split, again staying ahead of the Bears hot on her trail. The baton exchanged to Foster for the anchor leg, and she turned in one of the finest runs of her career with a 53.00 closing split to put nearly two seconds between her and Baylor's anchor by the time all was said and done.
Ohio State currently has the conference's second-best time, just shy of two seconds back of Michigan's Saturday effort. The Wolverines also scored head-to-head wins over conference foes Iowa (3:40.40) and Minnesota (3:40.53).
Michigan only had entries in the high jump among the Saturday field events.
For the second time this season, Jada Wimberly cleared 1.77m (5 feet, 9.75 inches) and earned a win for it, this time in the non-invitational section of the high jump in Fayetteville. Wimberly missed just once en route to her career-best-tying height, and took attempts at 1.81m (5-11.25) that would have moved her into the top-10 in school history.
In the invitational section later in the day, Katt Miner made it over at 1.72m (5-7.75) on her first try, but could not make muster at the same 1.77m bar her teammate cleared earlier.
In the only individual track event of the day for Michigan at Arkansas, Harrison finished 14th overall in the non-invitational sections of the 200 meters in 24.42.
Vanderbilt Music City Challenge
Site: Nashville, Tenn. (Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility)
Event: Vanderbilt Music City Challenge (Day 2 of 2)
U-M Result: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: Friday, Feb. 21 -- host Silverston Invitational (U-M Indoor Track Building)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Michigan women flexed their mid-distance muscles on the final day of the Vanderbilt Music City Challenge on Saturday (Feb. 15), led by milers Meg Darmofal and Alice Hill, and 800-meter runner Aurora Rynda.
The Michigan mile corps -- ranked seventh nationally by the USTFCCCA heading into the weekend -- improved dramatically with their performances in Nashville on Saturday.
Mile leader Darmofal improved her personal record in the event by .01 seconds in 4:39.18 to take the overall win in the event, with teammate Hill right behind her in second. Hill ran 4:40.15 to slash more than three seconds off her career best and more than nine off her season's best with the effort.
Grad transfer Annie Taylor took sixth in a new career-best 4:45.10, a more than two-second improvement over her best from her Cornell undergrad career. Taylor is the fourth sub-4:50 miler for Michigan in 2020, along with Darmofal, Hill and Ericka VanderLende.
The national No. 2 800-meter corps also got a big boost with the 2020 debut of reigning Big Ten Indoor 600-meter champion Rynda. The sophomore clocked a career-best 2:05.35 to finish second overall in the event.
With the performance, she jumped from No. 12 on the vaunted Michigan all-time list in the event up to No. 7, just ahead of 2017 NCAA 1,500-meter national champion Jaimie Phelan.
The duo of Amanda Schaare and Briana Nelson headlined field event action as they finished 11th and 12th in the shot put.
Michigan Collegiate Career-Best Performances
Career debuts not included
Meg Darmofal -- 4:39.18 / Mile (I)
Alice Hill -- 4:40.15 / Mile (I)
Eva Jansohn -- 2:14.94 / 800m (I)
Raquel Powers -- 4:54.76 / Mile (I)
Aurora Rynda -- 2:05.35 / 800m (I)
Samantha Saenz -- 4:56.21 / Mile (I)
Julia Sullivan -- 2:13.15 / 800m (I)
Annie Taylor -- 4:45.10 / Mile (I)
Jada Wimberly -- 1.77m (5-9.75) / High Jump (I)
Michigan Results by Event
400 Meters (Friday at Arkansas)
9. Julia Hall / 55.58 [non-invitational]
20. Jenna Reid / 56.93 [non-invitational]
800 Meters (at Arkansas and Vanderbilt)
2. Aurora Rynda / 2:05.35 (Saturday at Vanderbilt)
16. Julia Sullivan / 2:13.15 (Saturday at Vanderbilt)
8. Chloe Foster / 2:13.87 (Friday at Arkansas)
23. Eva Jansohn / 2:14.94 (Saturday at Vanderbilt)
Mile (Saturday at Vanderbilt)
1. Meg Darmofal / 4:39.18
2. Alice Hill / 4:40.15
6. Annie Taylor / 4:45.10
20. Raquel Powers / 4:54.76
25. Samantha Saenz / 4:56.21
27. Maddy Trevisan / 4:57.60
28. Amber Gall / 4:57.84
33. Gabby Swider / 5:03.82
34. Lexi Munley / 5:04.30
3,000 Meters (Saturday at Vanderbilt)
26. Julia Sullivan / 2:13.15
5,000 Meters (Friday at Iowa State and Vanderbilt)
5. Ericka VanderLende / 16:16.46 (at Iowa State)
14. Kathryn House / 16:50.11 (at Vanderbilt)
23. Emma Sloan / 17:12.52 (at Vanderbilt)
60-Meter Hurdles (at Arkansas and Vanderbilt)
QUALIFYING ROUND (Friday at Arkansas)
25. Michaiah Thomas / 8.80
34. Paige Chapman / 9.05
PRELIMS (Saturday at Vanderbilt)
32. Sydney McGinley / 9.02
41. Tiana Luton / 9.13
4x400 Relay (Saturday at Arkansas and Vanderbilt)
6. Lane, Harrison, Hall, Foster / 3:36.70 SCHOOL RECORD (at Arkansas)
6. Amene, Taylor, Gall, Hill / 3:50.79 (at Vanderbilt)
High Jump (Saturday at Arkansas)
1. Jada Wimberly / 1.77m (5-9.75) [non-invitational]
11. Katt Miner / 1.72m (5-7.75) [invitational]
Long Jump (Friday at Arkansas)
30. Ameia Wilson / 5.46m (17-11) [non-invitational]
Shot Put (Saturday at Vanderbilt)
11. Amanda Schaare / 14.56m (47-9.25)
12. Briana Nelson / 14.36m (47-1.25)
Weight Throw (Friday at Vanderbilt)
6. Courtney Jacobsen / 20.17m (66-2) [SCHOOL RECORD]
7. Briana Nelson / 19.89m (65-3)
Players Mentioned
