Michigan
B1G SPIRE Invitational
Wolverine Women Ready to Return to Action at SPIRE
2/9/2021 12:30:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., Feb. 12-13 -- SPIRE B1G Invitational (Geneva, Ohio), 10 a.m. (Friday) | 11 a.m. (Saturday)
Meet Central | Live Results
• Complete Meet Notes (PDF)
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With the two-week department-wide pause in activities now lifted, the University of Michigan women's track and field team is looking to pick back up where it left off last month as it heads to the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, for the SPIRE B1G Invitational on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 12-13).
The Wolverines are aiming to jump-start their 2021 indoor campaign at the site of the upcoming Big Ten Indoor Championships (Feb. 25-27) in the two-day competition featuring conference foes from Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers.
Friday's competition begins at 10 a.m. with action in the field events, followed by the start of a short four-event track program at 11:30 a.m.
The main program on Saturday, featuring competition in seven different track events, gets underway at 11 a.m. The day's field events also will begin at 11 a.m.
This weekend's meet also will feature a pentathlon competition for those teams whose multi-event competitors were scheduled to compete at last month's U-M B1G Multi-Event Invitational that was canceled as part of the pause.
Though meet entries have not yet been finalized, among those expected to compete for the Wolverine women are first-year phenom sprinter Ziyah Holman; All-Americans Alice Hill and Ericka VanderLende; first-year standouts Katelynne Hart and Hannah Waller; and field event leaders Amanda Schaare, Katt Miner, Jessica Mercier and Courtney Jacobsen.
This story will be updated with featured events and a document outlining the full weekend schedule later this week once the full schedule and entries have been finalized.
Spectators will not be allowed into the facility as a precautionary measure and to allow for more room for participants from separate teams to space themselves out within the building.
Fans will be able to follow along with live results from the meet. Regular updates also will be provided via the official social media channels of Michigan track and field.
Wolverines in the National Rankings
| Name | Event | Rank |
| Hannah Waller | 60m | 46 |
| Ziyah Holman | 600m | 2 |
| Alice Hill | Mile | 26 |
| Katelynne Hart | Mile | 28 |
| Kathryn House | Mile | 43 |
| Ericka VanderLende | Mile | 44 |
| Ericka VanderLende | 3000m | 14 |
| Katelynne Hart | 3000m | 16 |
| Katt Miner | High Jump | 41 |
| Amanda Schaare | Shot Put | 30 |
Featured Events
Mile - After both racing in the distance medley relay on Friday, Alice Hill and Katelynne Hart will double back to race the mile against reigning Big Ten 3,000-meter champion and cross country runner-up Bailey Hertenstein of Indiana and multiple-time Big Ten champion.
5000 Meters - Nearly a month ago, Ericka VanderLende lost out to Jenna Magness of Michigan State by just .03 of a second in a sprint to the finish of the Simmons-Harvey Invitational 3,000 meters. The two will get a rematch over the 5,000-meter distance on Friday not just of that last matchup, but also the 2020 Big Ten Indoor Championships. In 2020 Magness was the silver medalist and VanderLende won the bronze. That showdown was decided by just over a second.
400 Meters - Already the owner of the Michigan 600-meter school record and the most viral video in the history of Michigan athletics with her 4x400 relay comeback, Ziyah Holman will make her collegiate debut in the 400 meters on Saturday. In high school, she won the prestigious Brooks PR Invitational in this event and finished the year ranked No. 4 in the world among U18 athletes.
High Jump - Saturday will be a battle of the top three Big Ten returners from a year ago by height in Alexa Parks of Penn State, Courtney Campbell of Rutgers and Michigan's Katt Miner. Of the three, Miner performed best at the conference meet to claim the bronze medal.
Team Notes
• As it turns out, the only thing that has been able to stop Ziyah Holman in 2021 is a two-week pause. After her viral 4x400 relay comeback was viewed by millions around the world, she followed that up with the school record for 600 meters in 1:28.08. She is expected to also run the 400 meters this year -- in which she will go after Jade Harrison's school record and first-year record 52.84 from the 2017 Big Ten Indoor Championships. She is also expected to appear on the Wolverines' 4x400 and distance medley relays.
• Not only was Holman's 1:28.08 on Indiana's banked 200-meter track a school record, but it ranks among the fastest ever run by a collegian on a standard 200-meter oval. Per the USTFCCCA's unofficial top-25 all-time list for the event, she now ranks as the No. 15 performer in collegiate history. Additionally, she ranks No. 6 in the world for that distance so far this 2021 indoor season.
• Holman is not the only first-year collegian making an immediate impact for the Wolverine women. Distance runner Katelynne Hart presently ranks 16th nationally at 3,000 meters and 28th in the mile, with a 4:44.46 in the latter that puts her second only to Shannon Osika in program history among first-year collegians. Hannah Waller ranks third among Michigan first-year sprinters at 60 meters with her 7.48 run to win the Gladstein Invitational last month. The performance ranks her 46th nationally.
• Hart is part of a distance corps that has posted impressive early-season performances. Ericka VanderLende is top-50 nationally in both the mile and the 3,000 meters -- ranked No. 14 nationally in the latter -- while Kathryn House has scored two personal records in the mile to break into the national top-50 in the mile at No. 43.
• Headlining the field event crew is sophomore shot putter Amanda Schaare, who last time out moved to No. 4 in school history in the shot put. She is just 11 centimeters shy of becoming the fourth woman in school history to surpass 16 meters in the event.
Players Mentioned
