Michigan
NCAA East Preliminary Round
Four Wolverines, 4x400 Relay Punch Tickets to NCAA Championships
5/27/2023 10:20:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Site: Jacksonville, Fla. (Hodges Stadium)
Event: NCAA East Preliminaries (Day 2 of 2)
U-M Result: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Thursday, June 8 -- at NCAA Outdoor Championships (Austin, Texas), 3:30 p.m. CDT
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Four individual athletes and one relay team qualified for the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships on Saturday (May 27) as the University of Michigan women's track and field team closed out the NCAA East Preliminaries at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium.
Aasia Laurencin punched the first ticket to the NCAA Championships for the Wolverines in the 110-meter hurdles, setting yet another career-best as she took seventh in the quarterfinal with a time of 12.83. She now holds the third-best mark in program history, the best time in the Big Ten for 2023 and a top-ten mark in the NCAA for 2023.
The Big Ten Champion in the 400-meter hurdles, Savannah Sutherland claimed another victory on Saturday as she overtook Kentucky's Masai Russell -- a consistent NCAA leader in the event throughout the 2023 season -- and won with a time of 56.06 to qualify for outdoor nationals for the first time in her career. Sutherland now holds the top three marks in program history, the ninth-best mark in the world, the top time in Canada and the third-best time in the NCAA for the '23 season.
Ziyah Holman cemented her 400-meter dominance in the event quarterfinal, taking second overall with a time of 51.57 to secure her ticket to the outdoor championships. It will mark Holman's third-consecutive outdoor championship appearance and sixth-consecutive NCAAs (indoor and outdoor combined).
In the 800 meters, Aurora Rynda secured her spot at the NCAA Championships with a second-place finish in 2:03.73. She won the second heat by out-running Virginia Tech's Lindsey Butler. The performance earned her the fifth-best mark in program history and her third-consecutive trip to the outdoor championships.
In the final event of the day, the 4x400 relay squad earned a qualifying spot after a phenomenal comeback and ninth-place finish. Nikki Stephens, Sophie Isom, Rynda and Holman raced for the Wolverines. Isom followed the handoff from Stephens with Michigan in sixth place, quickly making up time and handing off to Rynda, who brought the Wolverines up to fourth. Holman proved her ability to close, running a final leg of 51.96 to secure a third-place finish for Michigan in the first heat and take the final qualifying spot. The performance was the fourth-best 4x400 time in program history.
Corinne Jemison competed in the discus throw, following Friday's (May 26) shot put competition, and finished seventeenth overall. Jemison fouled on her first throw but threw 51.36 meter (168 feet, 6 inches) on her second.
Anna Juul and Sam Tran competed in the second and first heat of the 1,500 meters, respectively. Juul hung tight to the front of the pack early on, with NC State's Katelyn Tuohy setting a quick pace, and finished eighth in the heat and seventeenth overall with a time of 4:20.24. Tran's heat came out of the start fast, with Tran working to hold a good spot in the middle of the group. She ultimately finished eleventh in her heat and twenty first overall with a time of 4:22.24.
The 4x100 relay team -- run by Trinity Henderson, Laurencin, Holman and BreeAna Bates -- finished twentieth overall with a time of 44.71, just two one-thousandths of a second behind Purdue's squad. The appearance marked Henderson's first time at preliminary rounds.
Kayla Windemuller came within seconds of clinching NCAA qualification in the steeplechase. She ran a solid race, staying in the top three for the first four laps, but as the race spread out, Windemuller worked to maintain a position near the front and ultimately finished fifth in the second heat. She took fourteenth overall with a time of 10:06.23, while the final qualifying spot went to Kristel Van Den Berg of Ole Miss who finished in 10:03.25.
Also in distance, Ericka VanderLende (18th, 16:11.54), Samantha Saenz (26th, 16:21.87), and Tran (40th, 16:48.31) competed in the 5,000 meters. All three ran in the first heat and fought to stay wuth the lead pack until the last mile. VanderLende was in contention for a qualifying spot following the first heat but finished eighteenth overall.
Riley Ammenhauser and Nadia Saunders earned program top-ten marks in the triple jump, finishing twenty-first and thirty-sixth, respectively. Ammenhauser improved from her first to third jump, leaping 12.81 meters (42 feet, 1.25 inches) to start and 12.87 meters (42 feet, 2.75 inches) on her third. She fouled on the second. Saunders' best jump was her first, with a leap of 12.38 meters (40 feet, 7.5 inches).
Michigan's qualifiers will compete at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas, June 8-10, at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Players Mentioned
