Michigan
NCAA Indoor Championships
NCAA Championships Await VanderLende, Distance Medley Relay
3/9/2021 10:36:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
Friday, March 12 -- at NCAA Indoor Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.), 8:05 p.m. CST
Meet Information
TV: ESPN3 | Live Results | Live Video
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- On the one-year anniversary of the cancelation of the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Michigan women's track and field team is set to return to the NCAA meet in Fayetteville, Ark., this Friday (March 12) with its eyes set on national glory.
Two-time All-American Alice Hill leads a new-look distance medley relay squad as the lone returner from the roster of the ill-fated 2020 nationals crew, with fellow relay pool members Ziyah Holman, Lauren Fulcher Lucy Petee, Katelynne Hart and Jena Metwalli also joined by 5,000-meter qualifier Ericka VanderLende.
Michigan's participation at the 2021 NCAA meet -- which runs Thursday through Saturday (March 11-13) at Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center -- is neatly contained within an hour window on Friday evening.
VanderLende makes her NCAA Indoor Championships debut with the 5,000-meter final at 8:05 p.m. CST, followed by the distance medley relay team taking the track at 8:45 p.m. CST in what is scheduled to be the NCAA postseason debuts for Big Ten 400-meter champion Holman, Fulcher, Petee, Metwalli and Hart.
Michigan enters at No. 43 in the pre-championships edition of the National Track and Field Rating Index (TFRI) from the U.S Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
The NCAA Indoor Championships will be streamed live online via ESPN3. Live results and splits will be available through Flash Results.
Updates also will be provided by way of the team's official social media accounts.
How the NCAA Indoor Championships Work
Each of the teams represented at the NCAA Indoor Championships will field student-athletes in at least one of the 17 events on the meet program. Student-athletes will compete against each other in each of those events, with points awarded to their respective teams based on how high they finish in the top-eight of their event.
Event winners will get 10 points for their teams, with the runners-up receiving eight points. Third place earns six points, fourth place gets five points, fifth place receives four points, three points are awarded for sixth place, seventh place nets two points, and eighth place earns one point.
The team that accumulates the most points from its student-athletes will be crowned the team champion.
Additionally, All-America honors are up for grabs from the USTFCCCA. Those who finish first through eighth in their respective events will earn first-team recognition, with second-team distinctions going to those who place ninth through 16th. Individuals who fail to record a mark or a time -- by way of disqualification, not starting or not finishing -- earn Honorable Mention status.
Event Previews
5,000 Meters Final (8:05 p.m. CST) | Live Results -- VanderLende enters the national meet with momentum, having claimed a pair of silver medals at the Big Ten Indoor Championships at 3,000 meters and then 5,000 meters, and most recently having claimed a decisive cross country win at Florida State to lead her team to the NCAA Cross Country championships. In the Big Ten 5K final, she clocked 16:04.56 -- faster than all but five other women in school history have ever gone -- just two days after a taxing career-best 9:12.45 effort in the 3K.
She will have fresh legs under her on Friday as she attempts to live up to or improve upon her No. 5 pre-meet seeding in the event. With her 15:48.88 best, she is one of just six women in the field who have broken 15:50 this season, with only one woman having run faster than 15:40.
Should she make a run at the NCAA title, she would be the first Michigan woman to be crowned a national champion at this distance indoors or outdoors. Erin Finn was twice a national runner-up in this event in 2017 and 2017.
Distance Medley Relay (8:45 p.m. CST) | Live Results -- For the 18th time in the past 19 years, Michigan will field a distance medley relay squad at the NCAA Indoor Championships, a span that includes a nation-best four national titles in 1994, 1998, 2005 and 2013.
The 2021 iteration of the Wolverine squad squeaked into this national meet with the 12th and final seed at 11:08.84, but will look to live up to the legacy of Michigan success in this event. All of the legs in the U-M relay pool are only running this event, meaning fresh legs across the board for the Wolverines. Michigan is one of only four teams in the field without its pool members entered in any other events throughout the weekend.
Two-time All-American Hill traditionally runs the opening 1,200-meter leg, and Big Ten-winner Holman will run the 400-meter leg. Just a first-year collegian, Holman has the second-best personal best of any sprinter in the race at 52.55 from two weekends ago. The 800-meter leg will either be carried by Petee or Fulcher, with the 1,600-meter anchor duties going to either Hart or Metwalli.
Players Mentioned
