Michigan
NCAA East Preliminaries
Dramatic Near-Misses for Wolverines on First Day at NCAA East Prelims
5/26/2022 8:43:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex)
Event: NCAA East Preliminary Rounds (Day 1 of 2)
U-M Result: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: Saturday, May 28 -- at NCAA East Preliminary Rounds - Day 2 (Bloomington, Ind.), 1 p.m.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- On its opening day of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds on Thursday (May 26) in Bloomington, Ind., the University of Michigan women's track and field team advanced nearly all of its qualifying-round track entrants and came tantalizingly close to a pair of berths to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Only 12 individuals or relay teams per event will move on to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, to be held June 8-11 at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.
Michigan very nearly had its first qualifiers of the weekend, with shot putter Corinne Jemison and long jumper Ameia Wilson missing by a combined three spots and eight centimeters.
The Wolverines advanced four of their five first-round entrants to compete for NCAA Championships berths in quarterfinals action on Friday, led by a career-best performance from third-seeded Aasia Laurencin in the 100-meter hurdles.
Joining Laurencin as advancers from Thursday's opening rounds to Saturday's quarterfinals were multiple-time Big Ten champion 10th-seeded Ziyah Holman at 400 meters, two-time reigning Big Ten champion 14th-seeded Aurora Rynda at 800 meters, and 2021 World U20 bronze medalist 15th-seeded Savannah Sutherland in the 400-meter hurdles.
With her only legal mark of the day in her three rounds of throwing, Jemison heaved the shot 16.47m (54-0.5) to jump into the top 10 in the second round. By the end of the second round, she had fallen to 13th overall, needing to improve at least three centimeters on her final throw to advance to nationals.
She could only muster a 15.91m (52-2.5) on her final attempt, and would remain 13th overall. Still, near the conclusion of her first year of competition as a Wolverine, Jemison now owns the three farthest throws in outdoor school history, with her throw Thursday registering at No. 3.
Both she and teammate Amanda Schaare, who was 30th in the shot put, will return Saturday for the discus.
Wilson put herself on the right side of the 12-woman bubble in the long jump in the second of three rounds, moving up to 11th with a leap of 6.03m (19-9.5, -1.3m/s) with just a single trip through the lineup remaining. She was unable to improve in the final round as three other individuals moved past her in the standings.
The battle for the last two qualifying spots was exceptionally tight, with 11th place and 20th place separated by only nine centimeters.
Laurencin got the afternoon off to a strong start for the Wolverines as she clocked a career-best 13.06 (+1.5 meters-per-second [m/s] wind reading) for the fourth-fastest time of the opening round. In her heat she finished behind only top-seeded Alia Armstrong of LSU at 12.74.
She will now turn her attention toward Saturday's quarterfinals at 6:15 p.m., when she will look to advance to NCAAs for the second-straight season and for the first time as a Wolverine. She competed in the event last year as a Texas Longhorn prior to transferring to Michigan.
In Michigan history, only multiple-time Olympians and NCAA champions Cindy Ofili and Tiffany Ofili have ever gone faster. Through this same point in her sophomore year in 2007, Tiffany had a comparable wind-legal career-best (wind less than 2.0m/s) of 13.01 (-0.5m/s); she went on to run 12.80 (+1.8m/s) for her first NCAA title. Cindy owned a career best of 12.93 (+1.4m/s) at this same point in her career in 2013.
Holman clinched her trip to the 400-meter quarterfinals with a second-half surge as she crossed the line in 52.23 for the heat win and the 10th-fastest time in the field overall.
The 2022 Big Ten Outdoor silver medalist was a step or two behind the leading edge of a tightly grouped pack coming off the final turn, but the three-time Big Ten champion found an extra gear to pull away from the field and secure her automatic berth to the quarterfinals.
Though it was not a season's best, the 52.23 performance nearly mirrored the 52.28 she ran in the opening round a year ago before going on to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a school-record 51.41. She will look to repeat history Saturday at 6:50 p.m.
Rynda called upon a late-race surge to clinch her trip to the 800-meter quarterfinals, moving up from fifth to third in the final 100 meters to grab the third-and-final automatic qualifying berth. After coming through the halfway point in third place in a bunched-up group, Rynda appeared to be ever slightly fading as the pace ratcheted down in the final 300 meters.
Coming off the final turn, Rynda was able to surge -- in much the same way she did to win her Big Ten title two weekends ago -- to slide into the third spot in an outdoor season's best 2:05.20, just 0.15 of a second clear of fourth and 14th overall. The surge proved crucial, as the fifth-place finisher in her race -- where she started the homestretch -- was the first woman out.
She will look to secure a return to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she earned second-team All-America honors a year ago, Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
In her first NCAA postseason appearance, Sutherland missed an automatic berth to the quarterfinals by the narrowest of margins -- 0.003 of a second at the finish line -- but still advanced with an at-large berth to Saturday's 7:25 p.m. final.
Sutherland was in third place coming off the final bend, but gradually lost ground to fourth place over the final 100 meters before she was ultimately edged out at the line. The time was good for 15th among the 24 qualifiers.
Women's competition at the NCAA East Preliminaries continues with its final session Saturday. Michigan's first field event of the day is at 1 p.m., with a track session to follow starting at 5 p.m.
Michigan Results
Q/q = qualified for the next round
400 meter dash
First Round
10. Ziyah Holman / 52.23Q
800 meter run
First Round
14. Aurora Rynda / 2:05.20Q
1500 meter run
First Round
35. Sam Tran / 4:22.06
100 meter hurdles
First Round
4. Aasia Laurencin / 13.06Q [+0.5m/s] [New PR]
400 meter hurdles
First Round
15. Savannah Sutherland / 58.53q
Pole Vault
First Round
22. Mia Manson / 4.11m (13-5.75)
40. Jessica Mercier / 3.81m (12-6)
40. Brooke Tjerrild / 3.81m (12-6)
Long Jump
First Round
14. Ameia Wilson / 6.03m (19-9.5) [-1.3m/s]
Shot Put
First Round
13. Corinne Jemison / 16.47m (54-0.5)
30. Amanda Schaare / 15.59m (51-1.75)
Players Mentioned
