Michigan
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Champions Holman, Rynda Lead Michigan to Fifth Place at Big Tens
5/16/2021 6:20:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Site: Champaign, Ill. (Demirjian Park)
Event: Big Ten Outdoor Championships (Day 3 of 3)
U-M Result: 5th of 13 teams (73.5 points)
Next U-M Event: Wed-Sat., May 26-29 -- at NCAA East Preliminary Rounds (Jacksonville, Fla.)
• Complete Results (PDF)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- On a final day at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships that featured two event winners and two school records on Sunday (May 16), the University of Michigan women's track and field team finished fifth overall in a tight team race at Illinois Demirjian Park.
Ziyah Holman and Aurora Rynda were the victors in their respective 400-meter and 800-meter events and the jumps duo of pole vaulter Jessica Mercier and high jumper Katt Miner and distance runner Ericka VanderLende also earned medals to lead the Wolverines to 73.5 team points.
Holman and Mercier also broke or tied school records in their respective events, and fourth-place finishers Mia Manson (pole vault) and Samantha Tran made leaps in the all-time top-10 lists in their respective finishes.
The Wolverines finished just 1.5 points behind fourth-place Iowa in a race that was decided in the final event, and were able to hold off sixth-place Penn State by two points at 71.5.
Holman led from wire-to-wire in her latest 400-meter victory -- the eighth straight to start her collegiate career -- but faced a stiffer challenge from Indiana's Natalie Price than in any of those previous races. She came off the turn onto the homestretch just a step ahead of the Hoosier, but continued to power toward her school-record 51.88 seconds, while Price's legs started to tie up at the end en route to a 52.21.
After several weeks of near-misses, Holman finally took down the longest-standing school record in program history in Joyce Wilson's 52.43 from the 1985 Big Ten Championships. The time also propelled her into the top-20 nationally as of publication.
Rynda, too, ran from or near the front throughout her win at 800 meters. She and teammate Lucy Petee came through, running 1-2 after a slower early pace, but the pace ramped up with 300 meters to go to set up a sprint to the finish. Though opponents from Wisconsin and Minnesota tried to keep pace, Rynda was smooth all the way through the finish as she closed the race with a 59.92-second lap.
Her win was the third 800-meter title for the Wolverines dating back to 2016.
The two teamed up at the end of the meet to run legs of the fourth-place 4x400 relay, which clocked 3:35.90 in partnership with Chika Amene and Hannah Waller. Holman closed out the race with a blistering 51.03 split.
In the pole vault, Manson set the tone early, clearing her first four bars on first attempts through a career-best 4.15m (13 feet, 7.25 inches) for the No. 3 spot in school history. Mercier, meanwhile, required a clutch third-attempt make at that same height to remain among six women still alive for 4.25m (13-11.25).
Mercier made that bar look easy with a first-attempt make, tying the school record by now-volunteer coach Kiley Bastien -- who she was able to immediately celebrate with. The roles appeared to be reversed from the previous height as Manson looked to have cleared 4.25m for a three-way share of the record on her third try, but the mark was ruled a foul after the fact.
Mercier's make left her in elite company among the remaining women, herself the reigning indoor champion against 2019 indoor winner Sophia Franklin of Michigan State and 2019 outdoor champ Anna Watson of Indiana. Mercier could not make muster at an outright school-record 4.35m (14-3.25), and won a tiebreak at 4.25m with Watson behind the 4.35m winner from Franklin.
Between Mercier's silver medal -- the third Big Ten medal of her young career -- and Manson's fourth-place effort, the Wolverines amassed 13 total points in the event.
Also earning the third Big Ten medal of her career with a clutch clearance was Miner in the high jump, as she finished with a share of the bronze after making an outdoor career-best-tying 1.76m (5-9.25). She got that bar on her second attempt, but needed all three tries to make it over at 1.73m (5-8). A miss would have shut her out of the top-eight scoring positions altogether, but instead she ended up with 5.5 points for Michigan.
This bronze joins a career collection for Miner that includes a 2020 indoor bronze and a 2021 indoor silver.
Bronze also went to VanderLende, who ran 16:03.03 for third at 5,000 meters along with seventh-place finisher Kathryn House in 16:26.67. VanderLende hung with the leaders for much of the early part of the race, but could not keep pace in the final mile. Still, she added six valuable points to the Wolverines' team effort, along with two more from House.
Tran did not earn a medal, but she did make Michigan history in a big breakthrough performance for fourth place at 1,500 meters. Entering with a best of 4:21.59 from last week's Len Paddock Open, she chopped more than seven seconds off that to power home for a 4:14.35 finish for five team points.
Rounding the final turn, she was sixth but finished strong to pass one runner with 20 meters to go and then got former NCAA champion and multiple-time Big Ten winner Danae Rivers of Penn State at the line. Rivers let up at the line, allowing the hard-charging Tran to clip her at the line by 0.01 seconds.
With the run, she moved up to No. 7 in school history, just ahead of another volunteer coach in Amanda Eccleston.
The postseason now shifts gears to the NCAA level later this month, with select Wolverines to compete at the East Preliminary Rounds in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 26-29. This meet serves as the opening rounds for the NCAA Outdoor Championships to be held June 9-12 at the renovated Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to final; q = at-large qualifier to final
100 meter dash
Prelims
10. Hannah Waller / 11.88 (+0.4m/s)
17. Hanna Hearn / 12.10 (+0.4m/s)
200 meter dash
Prelims
15. Hanna Hearn / 24.81 (-0.2m/s)
400 meter dash
Final
1. Ziyah Holman / 51.88 [10 team pts] [U-M Record]
Prelims
1. Ziyah Holman / 52.91Q
800 meter run
Final
1. Aurora Rynda / 2:08.94 [10 team pts]
9. Lucy Petee / 2:11.27
Prelims
6. Lucy Petee / 2:06.58q [New PR]
9. Aurora Rynda / 2:07.44
17. Annie Taylor / 2:10.49
23. Eva Jansohn / 2:12.21
1500 meter run
Final
4. Samantha Tran / 4:14.35 [5 team pts] [New PR]
12. Jena Metwalli / 4:27.29
Prelims
5. Jena Metwalli / 4:23.65q
10. Meg Darmofal / 4:25.33
13. Samantha Tran / 4:26.26Q
16. Lucy Petee / 4:26.68
18. Eva Jansohn / 4:28.17 [New PR]
Steeplechase
Final
4. Alice Hill / 9:59.11 [5 team pts]
6. Kayla Windemuller / 10:11.78 [3 team pts]
15. Lauren Fulcher / 10:45.09
5000 meter run
Final
3. Ericka VanderLende / 16:03.03 [6 team pts]
7. Kathryn House / 16:26.67 [2 team pts]
13. Katelynne Hart / 16:37.03
30. Maddy Trevisan / 17:28.15
10,000 meter run
Final
5. Jessi Larson / 33:39.92 [4 team pts]
6. Ericka VanderLende / 33:50.22 [3 team pts]
12. Raquel Powers / 34:47.21
20. Samantha Saenz / 37:15.46
100 meter hurdles
Prelims
14. Michaiah Thomas / 13.82 (+1.5m/s) [New PR]
4x100 relay
Final
7. Ameia Wilson, Hanna Hearn, Lauren Morgan, Hannah Waller / 45.38
4x400 relay
Final
4. Chika Amene, Hannah Waller, Aurora Rynda, ZIyah Holman / 3:35.90
High Jump
Final
3. Katt Miner / 1.76m (5-9.25) [6 team pts] [New PR]
Pole Vault
Final
2. Jessica Mercier / 4.25m (13-11.25) [8 team pts] [U-M Record]
4. Mia Manson / 4.15m (13-7.5) [5 team pts] [New PR]
Long Jump
Final
19. Ameia Wilson / 5.59m (18-4) (+1.2m/s) [New PR]
20. Hannah Waller / 5.58m (18-3.75) (-0.2m/s)
Triple Jump
Final
16. Hannah Waller / 11.90m (39-0.5) (+2.1m/s)
Shot Put
Final
13. Amanda Schaare / 14.99m (49-2.25)
Discus
Final
16. Amanda Schaare / 46.83m (153-7)
Heptathlon
Final (Friday/Saturday)
10. Theresa Mayanja / 5,069 points
100 meter hurdles / 13.80 (+0.6m/s) (1007 pts) [New PR] / Place: 6
High Jump / 1.62m (5-3.75) (759 pts) [New PR] / Place: 9
Shot Put / 11.58m (38-0) (633 pts) [New PR] / Place: 5
200 meter dash / 25.79 (+0.2m/s) (816 pts) / Place: 7
Long Jump / 5.00m (16-4.75) (+0.1m/s) (559 pts) / Place: 14
Javelin / 33.74m (110-8) (548 pts) [New PR] / Place: 9
800 meter run / 2:25.76 (747 pts) [New PR] / Place: 7
Players Mentioned
