Michigan
NCAA Indoor Championships
Michigan Distance Medley Team Takes Fifth at NCAA Indoors
3/12/2021 10:34:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Site: Fayetteville, Ark. (Randal Tyson Track Center)
Event: NCAA Indoor Championships
U-M Standing: Tie-25th place (4 points) after Day 2
Next U-M Event: Monday, March 15 -- at NCAA Cross Country Championships (Stillwater, Okla.), 11:50 a.m. CDT
Note: Michigan finished the three-day event tied for 35th place with the four points it earned Friday (March 12).
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The University of Michigan women's track and field team got a first team All-America finish from its distance medley relay team for the seventh time in the past nine years to headline its only day of competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday (March 12).
Entering the meet seeded 12th of 12 teams in the field, the Michigan quartet of Alice Hill, Ziyah Holman, Lauren Fulcher and Katelynne Hart clocked a season's best 11:04.65 to take fifth overall to score four points for the Wolverines in the team standings.
For Hill, this was the third consecutive year with All-America honors -- including the COVID-19-canceled meet a year ago in which all qualifiers were given All-America honors -- while Holman, Fulcher and Hart all earned their first.
Hill got the Wolverines off to a strong start as she carried the baton through her 1,200-meter leg in 3:22.78 to hand off in fourth to Holman for the 400-meter leg. The first-year Big Ten champion covered two laps of the Randal Tyson Indoor Track in 53.09, the third-fastest of any 400-meter runner in the race, as she gave the baton to Fulcher in a virtual tie for third.
Fulcher covered 800 meters in 2:11.08 to hand off to Hart in eighth, two seconds out of third place. The first-year collegian ran the finest race yet of her young Michigan career with a 4:37.75 carry for 1,600 meters -- sixth-fastest among all the anchors.
In the only other final for the Wolverine women on the weekend, Ericka VanderLende finished 15th in the 5,000-meter final in 16:37.36 for second team All-America honors.
She will be back in action on the national stage on Monday (March 15) as she leads the national No. 8-ranked Michigan cross country team to the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla., along with Hill and Hart.
The outdoor season is up next for Michigan track and field, though the 2021 schedule has not yet been finalized.
Full Michigan Results by Event
5,000 meter run
Final
15. Ericka Vanderlende / 16:37.36
Distance Medley Relay
Final
5. Alice Hill, Ziyah Holman, Lauren Fulcher, Katelynne Hart / 11:04.65
Players Mentioned
