Michigan
Wolverine Invitational
U-M Women Set to Open 2022 with Home Wolverine Invite
1/6/2022 1:05:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
Saturday, Jan. 8 -- host, Wolverine 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. -- For the first time in nearly two years, the University of Michigan women's track and field team will welcome back spectators to the world-class U-M Indoor Track Building this Saturday (Jan. 8) as it hosts the 2022 indoor season-opening Wolverine Invitational against teams from around the state and region.
Both the men's and 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 prior to 4 p.m.
The Wolverines will bust the rust of a long offseason against the likes of Mid-American Conference foes Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Bowling Green and Toledo, as well as select individuals from NAIA Siena Heights.
Entries will not be finalized until Thursday afternoon. Check back to this release for the full details on when each Wolverine will be competing in which events.
The competition will be streamed live on MGoBlue.com, featuring live feeds of the track and all of the field events. Live results also 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 and 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), Aurora 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 and 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)
• After a sensational debut season in 2021, Ziyah Holman returns as one of the nation's premier long sprinters. After breaking three school records, winning two Big Ten titles and competing at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships as well as the U.S. Olympic Trials, she returns for a sophomore campaign in 2022 looking to build on all of those accomplishments. Holman enters the year ranked No. 18 among last year's top indoor 400-meter runners; 16 qualify to the NCAA Indoor Championships.
• Holman is the face of what has quickly become a very deep sprints and hurdles squad. Joining her in the Wolverines long sprints corps this year are multiple-time All-American Florida transfer Nikki Stephens -- who also will put in work in the multi-events -- and reigning World Athletics U20 Championships 400-meter hurdles bronze medalist Savannah Sutherland, as well as former NAIA-level conference champion Delaney Stersic, formerly of Siena Heights. Waller returns from a strong debut collegiate campaign to lead the short sprints group, which also includes former MAC scorer Hanna Hearn and Michigan high school standout BreeAna Bates as a newcomer to the team. Texas transfer Aasia Laurencin leads the hurdles crew after an NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance for the Longhorns in 2021, along with Columbia transfer Carlita Taylor.
• As always, the Wolverines will rely on their storied distance program to generate big points come the Big Ten Championships in February. Chief among its perennial point scorers are two-time indoor 600-meter and reigning outdoor 800-meter champion Aurora Rynda and multiple-time conference medalist Ericka VanderLende. Rynda, also a two-time All-American for the Wolverines' distance medley relay squad, missed the 2021 indoor season but roared back with a 14th-place finish at NCAAs. VanderLende had a busy 2021, amassing three Big Ten Championships medals at 3,000 and 5,000 meters and two appearances at the NCAA Championships on the track. This fall, she was the Big Ten runner-up in cross country.
• They are joined by a wealth of talent, including established veterans like three-time All-American and five-time individual conference scorer Alice Hill and NCAA Championships qualifier Jessi Larson, and a group of up-and-coming talent. Among them are 2021 cross country breakthrough stars Kayla Windemuller and Katelynne Hart, two-time mid-distance scorer Samantha Tran, and mid-distance runners Lucy Petee and Lauren Fulcher. The Wolverines will also gain from the addition of standout Davidson transfer Eleni Daughters.
• Reigning indoor pole vault champion and outdoor co-school-record-holder Jessica Mercier is back to lead a deep pole vault group that includes fellow four-meter-plus vaulters in Mia Manson and Cal Poly transfer Brooke Tjerrild -- whose 4.27m best is superior to the 4.25m Michigan school records indoors and out. In the combined events, Mayanja returns after a breakthrough sixth-place finish in the Big Ten pentathlon. The Wolverines also have talent in the horizontal jumps with high school All-American Riley Ammenhauser and Ameia Wilson.
• Under the guidance of new throws coach Colin Boevers and volunteer coach Allison Boevers, Amanda Schaare will look to build on her seventh-place Big Ten Indoor finish in the shot put as she chases the school record in the event.
Up Next
Saturday, Jan. 15 -- host, Simmons-Harvey Invitational (U-M Indoor Track Building), TBA
Players Mentioned
