Michigan
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B1G North Florida Invitational
Michigan Ready for Early-Season Test at B1G North Florida Invite
3/31/2021 2:17:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., April 2-3 -- at B1G North Florida Invitational (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Meet Information
Friday, April 2 -- at B1G North Florida Invitational, Noon
Live Results
Saturday, April 3 -- at B1G North Florida Invitational, 3 p.m.
Live Results
• When to Watch the Wolverines (PDF)
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A full complement of sprinters, jumpers, distance runners and throwers from the University of Michigan women's track and field team will begin the 2021 outdoor campaign in earnest on Friday and Saturday (April 2-3) at the B1G North Florida Invitational in Jacksonville, Fla., against the entire conference.
Every team in the Big Ten will compete in the two-day neutral-site competition at North Florida's Hodges Stadium, hosted by Iowa, as part of the conference-only schedule adopted by the Big Ten for the 2021 season, providing an unusual early-season opportunity for a championship preview.
Of the two days, Friday (April 2) looks to be the busiest for the Wolverines with field events -- which are spread evenly over the weekend -- beginning at noon and a track session focused on top-seeded individual events split into an early session starting at 2 p.m. and an evening session at 7:30 p.m.
The remainder of the meet for the Wolverine women begins Saturday (April 3) starting at 3 p.m., with a track session that includes three relay races and non-seeded sections of individual events as well as the remaining field events.
A majority of Michigan's top lineup is scheduled to compete in Jacksonville, including a pair of returners in All-American Meg Darmofal and Annie Taylor. They are back to redeem an extra season of eligibility relief granted after the COVID-19 global pandemic wiped away the 2020 outdoor season.
Michigan fielded a Big Ten champion in its outdoor opener last weekend in pole vaulter Jessica Mercier, and this weekend she will be joined by two more conference champs making their 2021 outdoor debuts. Two-time 600-meter champion Aurora Rynda will suit up for the first time this year, while reigning 400-meter champion Ziyah Holman will wear the maize and blue outside for the first time in her young career. Both women will run the 800 meters.
Among those also set to compete in the Sunshine State for the Wolverines are individual Big Ten scorers Katt Miner and Jada Wimberly in the high jump, Hannah Waller in the sprints and jumps, Theresa Mayanja in the sprints and jumps, and Amanda Schaare and Courtney Jacobsen in the throws.
For a full schedule of which Wolverines will compete in which events, and when, please refer to the notes document linked at the top of the release.
Though the aim of having the meet in Florida was to provide ideal weather conditions to chase fast times and big marks to position student-athletes for qualification to the NCAA East Preliminaries to be held at this same facility in the end of May, the weather is forecast to be sunny but unseasonably cool.
Friday is projected to reach a high of 57 degrees -- nearly 20 degrees chillier than the historical average and only nine degrees warmer than Ann Arbor's projected high for the same day -- with Saturday expected to warm up to 65 degrees compared to Ann Arbor's 60.
Fans can follow along with the action by way of live results from AdkinsTrak Timing. Updates will also be provided via the team's official social media accounts.
Notes and Outlook
• When last the Wolverines competed outdoors as a full team under the direction of head coaches James Henry and Jerry Clayton, they finished 11th at the 2019 Big Ten Outdoor Championships held at Iowa, but are most recently coming off a runner-up finish at the 2021 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
• Only three women return as scorers from that 2019 Big Ten Outdoor Championships team, led by silver medal pole vaulter Jessica Mercier, bronze medal steeplechaser Alice Hill and eighth-place mid-distance runner Meg Darmofal. In total, only 14 women who competed in that meet are back for the 2021 season.
• Jessica Mercier was a silver medalist in the pole vault as a first-year collegian in 2019, and she now enters her follow-up 2021 outdoor campaign as the reigning Big Ten Indoor champion in the event. She will be looking to become the first woman in program history to win both the indoor and outdoor crowns in the same academic year.
• In addition to their outdoor successes in 2019, both Meg Darmofal and Alice Hill also are multiple-time All-Americans on the distance medley relay on the indoor circuit. So, too, is Aurora Rynda, the two-time Big Ten Indoor 600-meter champion who specializes in the 800 meters outdoors. A fall in the prelims kept her from potential big points at the 2019 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, but she did qualify for the NCAA East Preliminaries.
• Two other multiple-time scorers return for the Wolverines in high jumper Katt Miner and hammer thrower Courtney Jacobsen. Before she was a two-time indoor medalist in the high jump, Miner scored at the 2018 outdoor championships. That same meet is when Jacobsen last competed for the Wolverines outdoors in an eighth-place finish, then missing the 2019 season and losing 2020 to the COVID-19 pandemic. She is also a two-time scorer in the indoor weight throw.
• In place of the outdoor scorers who have departed since Michigan last competed outdoors in 2019, a class of young talent has quickly grown into immediate contributors. Big Ten Indoor 400-meter champion and two-time school record-holder Ziyah Holman is chief among that group, which also includes U-M first-year record-holders in Hannah Waller (60 meters), Mia Manson (pole vault) and Amanda Schaare (shot put); All-Americans in Ericka VanderLende (5,000 meters and cross country), Katelynne Hart (distance medley relay) and Lauren Fulcher (distance medley relay); and 2020 Big Ten Cross Country Freshman of the Year Samantha Tran.
• Ziyah Holman in particular was impressive, going viral in her collegiate debut, breaking indoor school records at both the 400- and 600-meter distances, winning the Big Ten Indoor Championships title at 400 meters -- MIchigan's first indoor title in that event -- and earning All-America honors as part of the distance medley relay.
• Still underclassmen in the spring of 2019, several current upperclassmen have developed into Big Ten scorers to boost the Wolverines' prospects. Distance runners Kathryn House, Raquel Powers and Jena Metwalli all put points on the board for the Wolverines at the 2021 Big Ten Indoor Championships, as did multi-event competitor Theresa Mayanja.
Up Next
Fri-Sat., April 9-10 -- at B1G Indiana Invitational #2 (Bloomington, Ind.), TBA
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Players Mentioned
