Michigan
NCAA East Preliminaries
Four Wolverines Clinch NCAA Berths on Final Day of East Prelims
5/29/2021 10:32:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Site: Jacksonville, Fla. (Jax Track at Hodges Stadium)
Event: NCAA East Preliminary Rounds (Day 2 of 2)
U-M Result: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: June 9-12 -- at NCAA Outdoor Championships (Eugene, Ore.)
• Complete Results (PDF)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Four Wolverines punched their tickets to the national championships on Saturday (May 29) as the University of Michigan women's track and field team closed out the weekend at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds at Jax Track at Hodges Stadium.
Ziyah Holman both qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 9-12 and broke her own school record at 400 meters, and she will be joined at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., by Alice Hill in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Aurora Rynda at 800 meters and Ericka VanderLende at 5,000 meters.
The four of them will be accompanied at nationals by Thursday's qualifier Jessi Larson in the 10,000 meters. Not since 2016 have the Wolverines sent as large a group to the NCAA Championships as they will in 2021.
Hill was the first to clinch a berth to the NCAA meet, as she finished seventh overall in 9:57.43 to secure an at-large bid to Eugene. Running in the first of three heats, she ran from near the front early, before an Auburn runner broke away and left a chase group of six -- including Hill -- in her wake.
Hill started to lose connection from the front of the chase pack halfway through, but rallied and formed a smaller group of four in pursuit of the leader. She moved up to fourth with two laps to go, but could not keep pace with the second- and third-place runners but was able to hang on for a sub-10:00 performance and was in the drivers' seat for one of three at-large berths.
The effort held up for that berth, as no other non-automatic qualifier -- that is, anyone who finished fourth or lower -- from the remaining two heats came within six seconds of her. A three-time All-American indoors via the distance medley relay, this marks the first outdoor nationals berth and the first individual nationals berth for Hill.
Though Holman had her nine-race winning streak at 400 meters broken -- and only by fractions of a second, at that -- the tradeoff was a berth to the NCAA Championships. In fourth coming off the curve, she closed hard and nearly picked off the leaders to keep her streak alive. The top three finishers all finished within 0.07 seconds, with Holman third among them in a new school-record 51.41 seconds. Her previous record of 51.88 was set two weeks ago at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
Overall, she finished fifth, and is the first Michigan woman to qualify for nationals since Joyce Wilson in 1984.
In addition to delivering Holman to her first individual NCAA Championships appearance after earning relay honors indoors, it brought her to within 0.06 seconds of the 51.35 qualifying standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials to be held next month, also at Hayward Field.
After demonstrating the chops for tactics in her Big Ten Championships win two weekends ago, Rynda showed the ability to compete in a fast race, as well, as she moved up to No. 3 on a historically deep all-time U-M 800-meter performers list in a significant career-best 2:01.35.
She started off running midpack, and followed a strong move by the leaders at the bell. Rynda dropped to fourth with 200 meters to go and looked as though she was going to need to rely on an at-large berth to nationals to keep her NCAA dreams alive. A furious kick in the final 100 meters moved her up past a Georgia runner in the last four seconds of the race to secure the automatic berth in third place, chopping more than two and a half seconds off her lifetime best along the way and when all three sections were completed, she had finished fourth overall.
The last time Michigan had a national qualifier at 800 meters was 2009 when Geena Gall won her second of two straight national titles.
VanderLende will look to complete the career trifecta of cross country, indoor and outdoor All-America honors in Eugene after clinching an automatic nationals berth behind a 16:02.46 effort for fourth in her heat.
She ran mid-pack early, before an Auburn runner started to break away from the field at the halfway point and forced the pace. VanderLende made a slight move toward the front of the field to position herself for a late race surge, which came from the chase pack at a mile to go as an NC State runner started to ratchet down. VanderLende stepped up to fourth -- within the top five that automatically advances to nationals -- as part of a group of eight runners in pursuit of the NCAA Championships.
With two laps to go, she was seventh overall and sixth among the chase pack that had started to string out in preparation for the final kick. With 300 meters to go, VanderLende made a move back into fifth and was just off the shoulder of fourth coming off the final curve. She was able to push ahead and create just enough separation over the final 100 meters to clinch fourth in the heat in 16:02.46.
Michigan also got individual top-20 finishes from 14th-place Kayla Windemuller in the steeplechase, 17th-place Kathryn House at 1,500 meters and 18th-place Katelynne Hart at 5,000 meters.
Rynda and Holman were unable to add relay duties to their NCAA Championships list as the 4x400 squad, alongside Chika Amene and Hannah Waller, finished 17th in 3:37.99.
Multiple-time Big Ten medalist Katt Miner also closed out her decorated Michigan career with a 41st-place finish in the high jump.
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to final; q = at-large qualifier to final
400 meter dash
Quarterfinals
5. Ziyah Holman / 51.41Q [New School Record] [NCAA QUALIFIER]
First Round
5. Ziyah Holman / 52.28Q
800 meter run
Quarterfinals
4. Aurora Rynda / 2:01.35Q [New PR] [NCAA QUALIFIER]
First Round
9. Aurora Rynda / 2:04.25Q
1500 meter run
Quarterfinals
17. Kathryn House / 4:22.25
First Round
16. Kathryn House / 4:19.76q
26. Lucy Petee / 4:21.52 [New PR]
32. Jena Metwalli / 4:23.32
33. Samantha Tran / 4:23.54
39. Meg Darmofal / 4:27.61
Steeplechase
Quarterfinals
7. Alice Hill / 9:57.43q [NCAA QUALIFIER]
14. Kayla Windemuller / 10:08.51
5000 meter run
Semifinals
10. Ericka VanderLende / 16:02.46Q [NCAA QUALIFIER]
18. Katelynne Hart / 16:22.67
25. Kathryn House / 16:31.34
42. Samantha Saenz / 17:11.61
10,000 meter run
Semifinals
10. Jessi Larson / 34:02.87 [NCAA QUALIFIER]
4x400 relay
Quarterfinals
17. Chika Amene, Hannah Waller, Aurora Rynda, Ziyah Holman / 3:37.99
High Jump
First Round
41. Katt Miner / 1.67m (5-5.75)
Pole Vault
First Round
32. Jessica Mercier / 4.07m (13-4.25)
39. Mia Manson / 3.92m (12-10.25)
Shot Put
First Round
41. Amanda Schaare / 14.85m (48-8.75)
Discus
First Round
37. Amanda Schaare / 47.87m (157-0)
Players Mentioned
