Michigan
Michigan Invitational
Michigan Invitational on Deck for Wolverine Women
1/20/2022 4:00:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
Saturday, Jan. 22 -- host, Michigan Invitational (U-M Indoor Track Building), 11 a.m.
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Note: Effective Jan. 1, 2022, the University of Michigan has instituted a proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative-test protocol for indoor athletic events. Face masks continue to be required and must be worn during all home indoor athletic events. [ U-M Vaccination Policy ]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's track and field team's season-opening three-week homestand comes to a close this Saturday (Jan. 22) as the Wolverines will welcomes teams as close as neighboring Ypsilanti and as far-flung as California to the state-of-the-art U-M Indoor Track Building for the Michigan Invitational.
Both the men's and the women's competitions will comprise a single session -- unlike the split men's and women's competitions of the 2021 season -- beginning with the start of field events at 11 a.m. Preliminary rounds of the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash begin at 11:30 a.m., with the finals-only portion of the track program set to begin at 12:30 p.m. The meet is expected to conclude just after 5 p.m.
The meet will draw a pair of California schools in Cal Poly and San Francisco to Ann Arbor, as well as Big Ten foes Michigan State and Northwestern. Also scheduled to compete are Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Grand Valley State (NCAA D-II), John Carroll (NCAA D-III), Madonna (NAIA), Miami (Ohio), Toledo and Western Michigan.
Michigan's sprints, jumps and throws groups will make of the bulk of the team's entries, including the likes of Big Ten champions Ziyah Holman and Jessica Mercier; returning Big Ten scorers Hannah Waller, Amber Gall, Lauren Fulcher, Kayla Windemuller, Mia Manson, Theresa Mayanja, Ameia Wilson, and Amanda Schaare; and impact newcomers BreeAna Bates, Aasia Laurencin, Savannah Sutherland, Nikki Stephens, Carlita Taylor, Riley Ammenhauser, Corinne Jemison and Brooke Tjerrild.
The field also will include Michigan State alumna Tori Franklin, an Olympian in the triple jump who is the indoor American record holder in the event and the No. 2 American all-time outdoors.
Live streams of the track events and all of the field events can be accessed on MGoBlue.com. Live results will be available through Delta Timing, and updates will be posted throughout the day on the official social media channels of Michigan track and field.
Team Outlook & Notes
• Now under the guidance of Kevin Sullivan in his first year as the director of track and field/cross country for the University of Michigan, the Wolverine women are coming off of a runner-up finish at the 2021 edition of the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Returning from that squad are Big Ten champions Ziyah Holman (400 meters) and Jessica Mercier (pole vault), as well as double silver-medalist distance runner Ericka VanderLende and all of the members of the runner-up distance medley relay. Also returning after not competing last winter is two-time Big Ten 600-meter champion Aurora Rynda. In total, Michigan returns student-athletes who scored 59 of its 80 points.
• Returning All-Americans: Katelynne Hart (distance medley relay), Alice Hill (distance medley relay), Ziyah Holman (distance medley relay), Lucy Petee (distance medley relay), Rynda (distance medley relay), Ericka VanderLende (cross country and indoor 5,000 meters)
• Returning Individual Big Ten Indoor Championships scorers: Ziyah Holman (400 meters champion), Aurora Rynda (600 meters champion x2), Ericka VanderLende (3,000 meters x2, 5,000 meters), Jessica Mercier (pole vault champion & scorer '19), Alice Hill (mile x3), Amber Gall (800 meters '20), Hannah Waller (60 meters), Samantha Tran (3,000 meters), Amanda Schaare (shot put), Theresa Mayanja (pentathlon)
• Current school record-holders: Ziyah Holman (indoor 400 meters, indoor 600 meters, outdoor 400 meters); Jessica Mercier (outdoor pole vault); Alice Hill and Aurora Rynda (distance medley relay)
• The Michigan pole vault corps continue to excel in its second outing last Saturday at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, as reigning Big Ten indoor champion Jessica Mercier took down reigning outdoor champion Sophia Franklin of Michigan State in a head-to-head tiebreak. Both women cleared 4.12m (13 feet, 6.25 inches), as did transfer Brooke Tjerrild in her best result as a Wolverine thus far. With Mia Manson also at 4.13m (13-6.5) this winter, the Wolverines have three 13-foot vaulters for the first time in program history. A rematch with Franklin awaits on Saturday.
• After opening up with an impressive 2:11 run at 800 meters, Ziyah Holman will return to a distance that is more comfortable on Saturday. Just one week shy of the one-year anniversary of her breaking the school 600-meter record at 1:28.08 in 2021 -- her first of what were three school records during her debut campaign -- Holman will return to the distance on Saturday. She will take a run at the record and try to match or exceed the 1:29.35 posted by two-time conference-winning teammate Aurora Rynda from two weekends ago. That mark stands at No. 5 nationally.
• Amanda Schaare continues to close in on the indoor shot put school record, coming eight centimeters closer on her final throw at 16.27m (53 feet, 4.5 inches) to win the Simmons-Harvey Invitational. Only half a meter remains between her and April Phillips' mark of 16.76m (55-0) from the 2003 NCAA Championships. As strong as her performances have been in 2022 -- she is No. 19 in the NCAA -- the Big Ten is tremendously deep with eight women having thrown farther so far this winter, setting up a colossal showdown at the Big Ten Championships in five weekends' time.
• Bates has yet to be beaten in four finals at 60 or 200 meters, and will have a chance this Saturday to extend that to five with her entry in the 60 meters. With a best of 6.45 seconds -- which came in a victory over then-Big Ten leader Brooke Bogan of Michigan State, who is also in the field -- she is now within a tenth of a second of Cindy Ofili's 6.37 school record from 2016. Ranked No. 6 on the all-time Michigan list in the event, she is one of three active Wolverines ranked top-10 in school history in the event, joining No. 5 Waller (7.42) and No. 8 Wilson (7.47).
• The Wolverines also got a top-10 all-time effort from transfer Aasia Laurencin in her Michigan debut, as she clocked 8.41 seconds to win the 60-meter hurdles at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational for the No. 8 spot in program history.
• The distance squad will largely be resting this weekend ahead of a push for qualifying times later this month and early in February, but it has performed well so far in 2022. Ericka VanderLende has run multiple college career bests en route to a 4:45 showing in the mile, with her, Samantha Tran (800 meters), Alice Hill and Anne Forsyth all ranked top-20 nationally at the moment.
Up Next
Fri-Sat., Jan. 28-29 -- at Indiana Relays (Bloomington, Ind.), TBA
Fri-Sat. Jan. 28-29 -- at Rod McCravy Memorial (Lexington, Ky.), TBA
Players Mentioned
