Michigan
NCAA East Preliminaries
Nationals Berths At Stake for Wolverines at NCAA East Prelims
5/25/2021 10:13:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
NCAA East Preliminary Rounds (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Meet Central
Thursday, May 27 -- Day 1, 3 p.m.
TV: UNF Ospreys Sports | Live Results | Live Video
Saturday, May 29 -- Day 2, 1 p.m.
TV: UNF Ospreys Sports | Live Results | Live Video
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The NCAA postseason kicks off this weekend for the University of Michigan women's track and field team as an impressive contingent travels to Jacksonville, Fla., for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds on Thursday and Saturday (May 27 and 29).
Berths to the NCAA Outdoor Championships will be on the line for the Wolverines' 20 entries into the meet -- the most in program history. Those who survive and advance past this weekend will represent Michigan at the national meet set for June 9-12 in Eugene, Ore.
This weekend's NCAA East Prelims serve as the opening rounds of the NCAA Championships, as do the NCAA West Prelims being conducted simultaneously in College Station, Texas. From each of the two regions, the top 12 in each of the 20 NCAA Championship events contested at the Prelims will punch their tickets to Eugene for nationals.
Michigan has entries in 11 of those 20 events, all of whom qualified for the East Prelims by virtue of being among the best 48 individuals who declared to compete in each event, or among the top 24 relay teams.
All 20 women set to compete in Jacksonville will be in pursuit of their first-ever trips to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Several have earned All-America honors from the NCAA Indoor Championships individually, like Ericka VanderLende (5,000 meters) or through the distance medley relay -- including Meg Darmofal (1,500 meters), Katelynne Hart (5,000 meters), Alice Hill (steeplechase), Ziyah Holman (400 meters, 4x400 relay) and Aurora Rynda (800 meters, 4x400 relay) -- who will be looking to replicate those results outdoors.
Also among those looking to advance are Big Ten indoor champion Jessica Mercier (pole vault); multiple-time Big Ten medalist Katt Miner (high jump); and 2021 Big Ten scorers Kathryn House (1,500 meters, 5,000 meters), Jessi Larson (10,000 meters), Mia Manson (pole vault), Jena Metwalli (1,500 meters), Lucy Petee (1,500 meters), Amanda Schaare (shot put, discus), Samantha Tran (1,500 meters) and Kayla Windemuller (steeplechase).
In order to limit contacts between student-athletes to the extent possible, while bringing the schedule into alignment with the national championships', the men will compete Wednesday and Friday (May 26 and 28), while the women will go on Thursday and Saturday. The meet historically has been a three-day competition with alternating men's and women's events each day.
The pole vault duo of Mercier and Manson kick off the weekend for the Wolverines on Thursday at 3 p.m. in a competition that will continue only until 12 vaulters remain. Field event action for the Wolverines on Thursday will also include Schaare in the shot put at 6 p.m., in which each thrower will only get three attempts.
Thursday's track session also begins at 6 p.m., featuring five first-round events that lead into Saturday's quarterfinals, and the decisive semifinal round of the 10,000 meters where qualifiers will be determined.
Competitors in the first session of action on the track include Tran, House, Darmofal, Peter and Metwalli over 1,500 meters at 6:30 p.m.; Holman over 400 meters at 7:25 p.m.; and Rynda over 800 meters at 7:50 p.m. The evening will conclude with NCAA berths up for grabs at 10,000 meters at 9:10 p.m. in a race featuring Larson.
Saturday will begin at 1 p.m. in the high jump with Miner. Like the pole vault, the competition will continue until 12 jumpers remain. Competition for Schaare in the discus gets underway shortly thereafter at 1:30 p.m.
Quarterfinal races from Thursday's first-round events make up a bulk of the last track session of the weekend, which begins at 5:30 p.m. The evening also includes quarterfinals in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at 6:10 p.m. with Hill and Windemuller; semifinals of the 5,000 meters at 8:30 p.m. with VanderLende, House, Hart and Samantha Saenz; and the quarterfinals of the 4x400 relay at 9:15 p.m. The relay team that qualified for Michigan includes Chika Amene, Hannah Waller, Rynda and Holman.
All four days of competition at the NCAA East Prelims will be streamed live via North Florida's website, and live results can be found through Flash Results. The official social media channels of the program will be providing updates throughout the weekend.
Spectators will be allowed, but with a maximum of 2,500 per day. Ticket information is available at UNFOspreys.com.
Notes & Outlook
• Ziyah Holman has been sensational in her debut campaign for the Wolverines with a pair of Big Ten titles and an eight-race winning streak over 400 meters, and this weekend will mark her first races at that distance outside of the Big Ten. After winning her outdoor title in a school-record 51.88, she will look to once again break 52 seconds to help solidify a berth to NCAAs and potentially chase the 51.35 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying standard.
• Whether a berth to the NCAA Outdoor Championships at 800 meters comes down to a fast race from the start or a tactical affair, Aurora Rynda has shown herself adept in both situations. All three of her Big Ten title wins (two indoors at 600 meters and the 2021 outdoor 800-meter title) have demonstrated her patience, and her season's best 2:03.93 ranks 12th among qualifiers -- right at the 12-woman cutoff for NCAA qualification.
• Three years after emerging as a global top-eight finisher in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the IAAF World U20 Championships, Alice Hill will be looking for her first-ever NCAA Championships berth in the event. A fall over the final water jump at Big Tens earlier this month kept her off the podium, but she still finished fourth with her second sub-10:00 performance of the year. She enters seeded seventh overall.
• Coming off a significant breakthrough at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships that saw her slash more than seven seconds off her personal record en route to a fourth-place finish at 1,500 meters, Samantha Tran now leads one of the deepest 1,500-meter squads in the region. Seeded No. 10, she is among five Wolverines who qualified for the event, tied with Indiana for the most in the event.
• The duo of Jessica Mercier and Mia Manson turned in the greatest pole vault performance in Michigan history at the Big Ten Championships, as the former went 4.25m (13 feet, 11.25 inches) for the silver and a share of the school record, while Manson cleared that same height but was hit with a post-attempt foul that negated the make to knock her back down to 4.15m (13 feet, 7.25 inches) for fourth. Another such performance from Mercier and Manson could well get them over the bar to the national championships.
• Two years ago, Jessi Larson and Kathryn House were the first two women who did not advance to nationals at the 5,000-meter distance as they finished 13th and 14th, respectively, both within 3.5 seconds of making the cut. House will look to make another run at 5,000 meter qualifying in 2021, while Larson will attempt to make it at 10,000 meters. House teams with Ericka VanderLende, Katelynne Hart and Samantha Saenz at 5,000 meters for the second-biggest contingent of any school in that event.
Players Mentioned
