Zeller, Sember Qualify for Worlds on Wolverines' Global Weekend
6/27/2022 12:21:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan track and field program will have at least two representatives at next month's World Championships as current Wolverine Joshua Zeller and alumna Cindy (Ofili) Sember both clinched berths during a busy weekend around the globe.
Fresh off his NCAA Championships bronze medal two weekends ago at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., Zeller clinched a return trip to the Pacific Northwest for the World Championships -- also at Hayward Field on July 15-24 -- with a silver-medal run in the 110-meter hurdles at the British Championships.
Zeller clocked 13.31 with a heavy 3.8 meters-per-second tailwind -- less than ideal wind conditions for the hurdles, which require precise timing over the barriers -- to just miss the win by .04 seconds.
While Zeller, who still has two years of remaining collegiate eligibility, will be competing on his first ever senior-level national team, Sember will represent Great Britain on the global stage for the fifth time in her career after claiming the 100-meter hurdles title. The two-time Olympian has now also qualified for three World Championships.
Sember crossed the line in 12.56 -- trailed by an even stiffer 5.4 m/s breeze -- to take the victory by nearly a quarter of a second.
In addition to the two British hurdlers at the senior level, Michigan also will send a three-deep delegation to the World U20 Championships in Cali, Columbia, in August.
True freshman Miles Brown won the USATF U20 Championships title at 800 meters to clinch his berth to Cali, and true freshman Savannah Sutherland doubled up at the Canadian Championships with victories in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles events.They will be joined by incoming freshman Cade Moran, who was the silver medalist in the USATF shot put.
Brown, already a three-time All-American, two-time Big Ten medalist and three-time school record holder in his first year at Michigan, took the lead with 150 meters to go, and held off a hard charge at the line to take the win by .01 seconds in 1:50.90.
Sutherland was victorious in the Canadian U20 400-meter hurdles by nearly a second and a half as she crossed the line in 58.69, and followed it up the next day with a victorious run in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.31 into a stiff 2.5 m/s headwind.
Moran launched a 19.15m (62 feet, 10 inches) heave on his final attempt to cement his position as the silver medalist and a Cali qualifier.
Some additional notable results from the weekend:
• True freshman Riley Ammenhauser will be the Team USA alternate in the women's U20 triple jump for Cali as she finished with a bronze-medal-winning 12.60m (41-4.25, 0.2m/s) leap.
• Second-team All-American and school record-holder Corinne Jemison finished sixth overall in the USATF women's discus with a heave of 56.78m (186-3), the second-farthest throw of her career and the third-farthest throw in school history.
• Alum and former NCAA champion Mason Ferlic finished sixth in the USATF men's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:24.60, but was unable to reclaim the spot on Team USA he earned for the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
• Alum and multiple-time All-American Andrew Liskowitz finished eighth in the USATF men's shot put. He threw 20.48m (67-2.25) to earn a second-straight top-10 national finish dating back to the 2021 Olympic Trials.
• Multiple-time All-American and Big Ten champion Aurora Rynda finished eighth in the Canadian women's 800 meters final, clocking 2:07.77.
• Sophomore Bera Ajala finished eighth overall in the British men's triple jump final with a best of 15.27m (50-1.25).
• Recently graduated Tom Dodd just missed the British men's 1,500 meters final, clocking 3:44.67 for 10th overall as the first man out of the final.
• Also just missing her final was Kayla Windemuller in the USATF women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. She finished 15th overall in 9:51.30. She also was the first woman outside of the NCAA Championships final two weekends ago in her second-team All-American 12th-place finish.
Players Mentioned
