Michigan
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Mercier, Holman Lead Michigan to Runner-Up Big Ten Finish
2/27/2021 8:27:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Event: Big Ten Indoor Championships (Day 3 of 3)
U-M Result: 2nd of 12 teams (80 points)
Next U-M Event: Thu-Sat., March 11-13 -- at NCAA Indoor Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.)
• Complete Results (PDF)
GENEVA, Ohio -- On the strength of a pair of individual champions and another pair of silver medalists, the University of Michigan women's track and field team clinched a runner-up team performance on the final day of the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Saturday (Feb. 27) at the SPIRE Institute.
Led by individual champions Ziyah Holman (400 meters) and Jessica Mercier (pole vault) -- both of whom won their respective events for the first time in Michigan history -- the Wolverine women posted their best finish since last winning the team title in 2016 with an 80-point performance.
Minnesota won the team title with 138 points, and Iowa was the nearest team to MIchigan with 75 points.
A quarter of the Wolverines' total points came via the Holman and Mercier 10-point victories, with 15 more today by way of Ericka VanderLende's silver-medal-winning effort at 5,000 meters -- her second silver of the weekend -- and Katt Miner's runner-up tie in the high jump.
Saturday's effort was truly across the board, as Michigan also got points in the sprints from Hannah Waller (fourth, 60 meters); in the distance events from Alice Hill and Jena Metwalli (sixth and seventh, mile) and Raquel Powers (sixth, 5,000 meters); in the jumps from Jada Wimberly (seventh, high jump); and in the throws from Amanda Schaare (seventh, shot put).
After setting the Michigan school record at 52.55 seconds in Friday's prelims and earning the top seed by more than a second and a half, Holman entered the final as the favorite and lived up to it with the Big Ten title that seemed inevitable all season long in 52.77.
By the time Holman and her opponents cut in from their respective starting lanes to the inside rail halfway through the race, the double school-record holder had already taken control of the race and did not look back.
The gap between her and her nearest pursuer only continued to grow as Holman continued to drive strong down the homestretch to the win. Though her 52.77 did not top the new school record, it did make her the first woman to run faster than 53 seconds multiple times in school history.
After winning the title and running a leg of the runner-up distance medley relay on Friday, she now awaits her fate in the NCAA Championships qualification process. She currently ranks No. 15 nationally, and only the top-16 are guaranteed a spot to nationals.
Much like Holman, Mercier seemed invincible throughout her competition on Saturday. After an early hiccup at the 3.90m (12 feet, 9.5 inches) bar that required a second attempt, Mercier rattled off first-attempt makes on each of the next five heights, culminating in crucial clearances at both 4.15m (13-7.25) and the eventual winning height of 4.20m (13-9.25) for a new career best.
Her clutch makes at those two bars separated her from the other three women who remained alive as everyone failed to clear 4.25m, giving Mercier the advantage in the tiebreakers.
In what was the third Big Ten Championships appearance of her career, Mercier has now finished no lower than fourth place.
She was joined in the four-meter club by teammate Mia Manson, whose make at 4.00m (13-1.5) placed her 12th. Manson now owns the U-M first-year record in the event, and with Mercier became the first pair of U-M teammates to both clear four meters. In overall U-M history, she now ranks No. 3 behind only volunteer assistant Kiley Tobel and Mercier.
Elsewhere in the vertical jumps, after being granted the opportunity to compete in an additional indoor season with a medical hardship waiver in the fall, Miner took full advantage by adding a high jump silver medal to her bronze from 2020.
Miner was perfect in her opening heights, not missing until she got to her best of the day at 1.78m (5-10). She made that bar on her second try, but could not make muster at 1.81m (5-11.25). Her previous clearance and body of work to that point was enough to earn her a share of the silver medal with Rutgers' Courtney Campbell, with seven team points going to each of them. Michigan got two more points from Wimberly, who cleared 1.72m (5-7.75) to finish seventh.
VanderLende returned to the awards podium for the second time this weekend, adding a 5,000-meter silver to her 3,000-meter silver from Thursday. The cross country All-American ran an aggressive race from the front, though she was ultimately passed late by Michigan State's Jena Magness for the win. Still, VanderLende covered the distance in 16:04.56 -- a time only four other women in school history have matched.
Behind her was an unexpected source of three points in sixth-place Raquel Powers. With her 16:30.96 performance, she slashed 20 seconds off her personal best in the event and completed a breakthrough campaign that saw her improve by nearly 35 seconds in the event from this time last year.
While Holman has garnered headlines and viral attention throughout 2021, she is not the only first-year sprint sensation on the Wolverines' roster. Waller capped an impressive debut season in the 60 meters final, finishing fourth in a career-best 7.42.
The performance earned her five points in the team standings. It also gave her a share of the U-M first-year record with Maria Brown, and a share in what is now a four-way tie for No. 2 overall in school history with Tiffany Ofili, Sierra Hauser-Price and Brown.
In what was the ninth-straight year with multiple mile finalists from Michigan, the duo of Hill and Metwalli finished sixth and seventh in 4:46.28 and 4:46.41, respectively.
This marks the third straight year Hill has finished sixth in this event, and it was Metwalli's first-ever Big Ten Championship top-eight finish. Combined, they notched five points for the Wolverines.
Michigan got another two points in the field as Schaare capped her sophomore season on anything but a slump, taking seventh in the shot put with a best of 15.98m (52-5.25) on her opening throw.
Select members of the team will now turn their attention toward potentially qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 11-13. In the meantime, the cross country team will have its lone regular-season competition at Florida State on March 5 with the hopes of doing enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships on March 15 in Stillwater, Okla.
Full cumulative results from all three days of competition can be found below.
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to final; q = at-large qualifier to final
60 meter dash
Final
4. Hannah Waller / 7.42 [New PR]
Prelims
7. Hannah Waller / 7.48q [New PR]
19. Hanna Hearn / 7.65
19. Lauren Morgan / 7.65 [New PR]
21. Ameia Wilson / 7.67
200 meter dash
Prelims
13. Hannah Waller / 24.58 [New PR]
400 meter dash
Final
1. Ziyah Holman / 52.77
Prelims
1. Ziyah Holman / 52.55Q [U-M Record]
800 meter run
Prelims
22. Lauren Fulcher / 2:14.18 [New PR]
23. Julia Sullivan / 2:14.80
Mile
Final
6. Alice Hill / 4:46.28
7. Jena Metwalli / 4:46.41 [New PR]
Prelims
2. Alice Hill / 4:45.76Q
9. Jena Metwalli / 4:50.29q
3000 meter run
Final
2. Ericka VanderLende / 9:12.45 [New PR]
4. Kathryn House / 9:21.31 [New PR]
7. Samantha Tran / 9:25.08 [New PR]
10. Kayla Windemuller / 9:28.01 [New PR]
5000 meter run
Final
2. Ericka VanderLende / 16:04.56
6. Raquel Powers / 16:30.96 [New PR]
19. Samantha Saenz / 17:15.36
60 meter hurdles
Prelims
19. Paige Chapman / 8.89
Distance Medley Relay
Final
2. Alice Hill, Ziyah Holman, Lauren Fulcher, Katelynne Hart / 11:10.12
High Jump
Final
2. Katt Miner / 1.78m (5-10)
7. Jada Wimberly / 1.72m (5-7.75)
Pole Vault
Final
1. Jessica Mercier / 4.20m (13-9.25) [New PR]
12. Mia Manson / 4.00m (13-1.5) [New PR]
20. Bree Bredeweg / 3.75m (12-3.75)
Long Jump
Final
9. Ameia Wilson / 5.77m (18-11.25) [New PR]
Triple Jump
Final
16. Hannah Waller / 11.08m (36-4.25) [New PR]
Shot Put
Final
7. Amanda Schaare / 15.98m (52-5.25)
26. Erin Connor / 12.68m (41-7.25)
Weight Throw
Final
7. Courtney Jacobsen / 19.01m (62-4.5)
21. Erin Connor / 15.88m (52-1.25)
Pentathlon
Final
6. Theresa Mayanja / 3,593 points
60 meter hurdles / 8.60 (995 pts) [New PR]
High Jump / 1.55m (5-1) (678 pts)
Shot Put / 11.03m (36-2.25) (597 pts)
Long Jump / 4.92m (16-1.75) (538 pts)
800 meter run / 2:22.85 ( pts) [New PR]
Players Mentioned
