Weekly Release #17
5/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Upcoming Schedule
Fri-Sat., May 26-27 -- at NCAA Mideast Regional (Knoxville, Tenn.)
Wed-Sat., June 7-10 -- at NCAA Outdoor Championships (Sacramento, Calif.)
This Week: Running at Regionals
Michigan competes in the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships this week at Knoxville, Tenn., as the best of the region will compete against each other to determine who will advance to Sacramento, Calif., and the national championships.
Four regional meets are held to determine the participants for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Athletes across the nation who qualify for the regional standard earn a trip to their respective regional championships. In order for an athlete to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, she must finish in the top five of an individual event or be a member of a top three relay at the regional championship. The track and field committee will also select a group of at-large athletes to round out the remainder of the Championships field in each event, similar to provisional-qualifying marks in the past.
Michigan will send 13 athletes who will compete in nine events over two days. Headlining Michigan's competitors will be 2006 Big Ten Outdoor 100m hurdle champion Tiffany Ofili, Big Ten Outdoor 800-meter champion Geena Gall and Big Ten Outdoor 1,500-meter champion Nicole Edwards. Edwards had experience at the 2005 regional championships as she took third place in the 1,500-meter run, qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
Coach James Henry's Thoughts:
On expectations for the upcoming meet ... "Well, I think this has been an outstanding team, I'm very pleased with how they performed at the Big Ten Championships, as we went into the meet as non-favorites and fighting our way to a second place finish. So it will be rewarding for them to finish on a high note. I know a high note for our team is to improve, that is our overall philosophy. If they improve upon their performances, then it will look good for them as they qualify for the NCAA nationals. They deserve it, they worked extremely hard and I do think that we'll have a number of people that will represent the University of Michigan. Our team goal is to at least finish in the top three, since that's what we do each year."
On how the week of rest plays a role in the performances ... "We have six freshpeople that will be competing, so the rest will do them well, due to the emotional highs of the Big Tens. It's been a long year for all of the athletes, with training starting in September, so I think the rest will do them good. My thing is to get them to focus as a team when we have a smaller squad, so that's my goal as a coach. I think this is a good team, and they'll be ready to perform after good performances at the Big Tens."
On how he keeps the team focused after the Big Tens and before the NCAA Nationals ... "We always follow the clich, take it one meet at a time, one week at a time and one day at a time. If they can maintain their focus in their training, then their not too concerned about the performance aspect. The training has been outstanding with our group, we've had time to regroup, restructure and reanalyze everything. So if we can keep their focus on their training, then the performances will be a lot easier for them."
Records are Meant to Be Broken
Freshmen Tiffany Ofili (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti) and Geena Gall (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) have proven the clich that "records are meant to be broken," to be true. The freshmen duo set records in the 100m hurdles and 800m run, respectively.
Ofili set a new Michigan Outdoor 100m hurdles record as she posted a time of 13.37, shattering the 2003 time of 13.42 set by Robin Landfair.
In the 800m run, Gall set a new Big Ten record as well as a Michigan Outdoor record, after she clocked in at 2:02.73. The Michigan record was previously held by Lindsey Gallo (2004, 2:03.80), while the Big Ten record was set by Amy Wickus of Wisconsin (1994, 2:03.85).
Trackwire 25 and Dandy Dozen
Michigan moved up to No. 10 with a total of 27 points after claiming finishing second at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships (May 5-6) in East Lansing, Mich.
In the Dandy Dozen, Michigan is currently represented by five athletes in middle-distance and distance events. Freshman Geena Gall (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) has moved up from No. 11 to No. 3 in the 800m, while sophomore Nicole Edwards (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vincent Massey) also moved up in the charts, being ranked No. 2 in the 1,500m run. In the distance events, the Wolverines have junior Erin Webster (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child) and sophomore Alyson Kohlmeier (Sarnia, Ontario/St. Patrick's) ranking at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, in the 5,000m run. Closing out the Wolverines ranked in the Dandy Dozen is senior/junior Rebecca Walter (Beverly Hills, Mich.Groves) as she remains ranked No. 1 in the 10,000m.
Rank, School Points 1. Texas 65 2. Auburn 50 3. USC 46 4. Nebraska 41 5. Miami 40 Georgia 40 7. Stanford 38 8. Arizona State 34 9. South Carolina 31 10. MICHIGAN 27 11. LSU 26 12. Minnesota 25 13. UCLA 20 14. North Carolina 17 15. Oregon 16 Tennessee 16 17. Florida State 14 18. Texas A&M 13 Iowa 13 20. Air Force 10 Villanova 10 22. Alabama 11 23. Illinois 9 Houston 9 Kansas State 9 Southern Illinois 9
Michigan's NCAA Regional Participants ...
Elizabeth Boyle: Pole Vault
Kelly Catino: Pole Vault
Nicole Edwards: 1,500-meter run
Theresa Feldkamp: 1,500-meter run
Arianne Field: 3,000-meter steeplechase
Geena Gall: 800-meter run
Amber Hay: 400m Hurdles
Alyson Kohlmeier: 5,000-meter run
Katie LaValley: 400m Hurdles
Tiffany Ofili: 100m Hurdles
Casey Taylor: Long Jump
Bettie Wade: Long Jump
Erin Webster: 5,000-meter run
History 101
At the Big Ten Indoor Championships (Feb. 25-26) the University of Michigan women's track and field team set a new precedent within the Big Ten by winning its eighth conference crown. The Wolverines now lead the conference with the most team titles in Big Ten history, with Wisconsin following in second with seven. In the past five indoor championships the Maize and Blue have been crowned victorious four out of five times (2002, '03, '05 and '06), and have won the team title back-to-back. Michigan has also won 11 of the last 13 Big Ten cross country and track and field titles (four straight cross country titles, three of the last four outdoor titles, and four of five indoor titles).
Michigan's distance medley relay squad has also won the Big Ten title four out of the last five championships (did not win in 2003). This year, the DMR team beat last year's time of 1:33.88, by 8.38 seconds, both squads set indoor facility records (2005: U-M Indoor Track Building and 2006: Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center). The 2006 team also set a new indoor Big Ten Championship meet record with its winning time of 11:25.50.
Titles, Titles and More Titles
With four individual titles (600- 3,000- and 5,000-meter events and the mile) from the 2006 indoor Big Ten championships the Wolverines now have 30 individual track titles in program history. Combined with U-M's 12 field titles, the Wolverines have a total of 42 individual indoor Big Ten titles. Along with the 42 individual Big Ten titles, the Maize and Blue have won six relay titles (two-mile, 3,2000-meter and four distance medley relays).
Just a Few Big Ten Records
The Wolverines won their Big Ten title in record setting fashion, as they set three new records at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. The first record of the meet came from freshman Tiffany Ofili (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti) when she set a Camp Randall facility record in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.48. The second record came from the DMR team as they set a new facility record as well as a new Big Ten Championships meet record with a time of 11:25.50. The record-setting team consisted of sophomore Alyson Kohlmeier (Sarnia, Ontario/St. Patrick's), freshmen Amber Hay (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance), Geena Gall (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) and senior/junior Katie Erdman (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac).
On the second day, Kohlmeier set a new 5,000m facility record with an NCAA qualifying time of 15:58.61.
2006 Captains
Head coach James Henry selected four captains to lead the 2006 Wolverines. Seniors Shavonne Maclin (University Heights, Ohio/Beaumont School) and Jennifer Williams (Burton, Mich./Atherton) join senior/junior Katie Erdman (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) and junior/sophomore Rebecca Walter (Beverly Hills, Mich./Groves) as the leaders for Michigan. Each of the captains are coming off of a strong 2005 outing, with Erdman and Walter assisting the cross country team in winning its seventh Big Ten title and fifth Great Lakes regional title. The two middle distance runners also scored in the Big Ten outdoor track championship, with Erdman taking the 800m title and Walter finishing as the runner-up in the 5,000m. Williams and Maclin were able to produce very important scores for Michigan in the indoor and outdoor Big Ten championships. In the indoor championships Williams took fourth place in the pentathlon and the high jump. For the outdoor championships Williams and Maclin each finished in sixth place in the heptathlon and 400m, respectively.
Up Next
The Wolverines head back to the west to Sacramento, Calif., to compete in the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships on Wednesday-Saturday (June 7-10) at Hornet Stadium.
Contact: Joseph Conrad (734)-763-4423
Players Mentioned
