Wolverines to Travel 14 Athletes to NCAA East Regional

May 27, 2015

The University of Michigan women's track and field team will be represented by 14 student-athletes at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds from Thursday-Saturday (May 28-30) at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium at Jacksonville, Florida. Competition will start on Thursday at noon and will resume on Friday at the same time. Saturday's final day of action begins at 1:30 p.m. For the Wolverines, however, action does not begin until 3:30 p.m. on Thursday with the shot put opening rounds.

The top 48 athletes in both the east and west regions in each event (in descending order) as well as the top 24 relays from each region qualified for the meet. The athletes will participate in two rounds (first round and quarterfinals) during the preliminary round. Twelve competitors from each individual event and 12 teams from each relay event will advance from each preliminary championship competition to the NCAA Championships. This year's national meet will be held from June 10-13 in Eugene, Oregon.

MICHIGAN QUALIFIERS

The 14 Wolverines below will compete in Jacksonville this week. U-M will also run a 4x400 relay team.

Event	Name/Seed	Time/Mark	Date
100m Dash	Cindy Ofili/20	11.45	5/1/15
400m Dash	Maya Long/33	53.58	5/15/15
800m run	Danielle Pfeifer/14	2:05.46	5/15/15
	Devon Hoppe/35	2:07.14	5/15/15
1,500m run	Shannon Osika/7	4:14.26	4/17/15
	Brook Handler/10	4:16.01	5/15/15
	Laura Addison/16	4:19.96	5/02/15
	Jaimie Phelan/46	4:23.81	5/15/15
5,000m run	Erin Finn/2	15:32.88	5/2/15
10,000m run	Gina Sereno/26	34:34.75	5/15/15
100m Hurdles	Cindy Ofili/4	12.89	5/15/15
	Sami Michell/32	13.50	4/17/15
400m Hurdles	Sami Michell/26	58.46	4/17/15
3,000m Steeplechase	Anna Pasternak/41	10:21.28	5/15/15
High Jump	Claire Kieffer-Wright/43	5-8.75 ft. (1.75m)	4/4/15
Shot Put	Kayla Deering/31	50-10.25 ft. (15.50m)	5/17/15

WOLVERINE BITES

• The preliminary rounds will be hosted by the University of North Florida for the third time in four years, as Hodges Stadium was the site of the 2012 and 2014 east regionals.

• Junior sprinter/hurdler Cindy Ofili, who owns the indoor program records in the 60m (7.37) and 200m dashes (23.69), is undefeated in 100m hurdles races this season. She is a perfect 6-0 across as many meets (8-0 including prelims), and her personal-best time of 12.89 run at the Big Ten Championships (May 17) ranks fifth in the nation.

• Ofili came into the Big Ten Championships on a tear and did not disappoint. Aside from her winning streak in the hurdles, she set a 100m dash PR (11.45) and a season-best 200m time (23.56) during her final regular-season competition of the year, at the UCI's adidas/Steve Scott Invitational (May 2). She followed that up with a successful title defense in the 100m hurdles at the Big Ten Championships and is now poised to compete in both the dash and hurdles for U-M this week.

• Since returning from injury, all sophomore Erin Finn has done is set top-five NCAA times in the 5,000m and 10,000m races, earning a pair of runner-up finishes in just three meets before defending her 10K title at the conference meet (May 16). Already a two-time All-American and four-time Big Ten champion (In/Out 5,000m run, 2014; Outdoor 10,000m run, 2014-15), Finn owns the program records for the indoor 5,000-meter run (15:52.11), outdoor 5,000-meter run (15:26.08) and outdoor 10,000-meter run (32:41.65).

• Freshman Kayla Deering is taking her first through to the NCAA postseason, having achieved her qualifying mark at the Big Ten Championships (May 17), improving her PR by more than two feet to score with a seventh-place finish (50-10.25 ft.; 15.50m). Freshman high jumper Claire Kieffer-Wright is also competing for U-M but in the high jump.

• The Wolverines are poised for another big championship performance from their bread and butter group -- distance and middle distance. U-M owns top-15 seeds in the NCAA East Region in the 800m (Pfeifer, 14th), 1,500m (Osika, 7th) and 5,000m (Finn, 2nd) races and will also have competitors in the 3,000m steeplechase and 10K.

THE COACHES

• Head Coach James Henry is in the midst of his 31st year at the help of the U-M program. His athletes have totaled 168 All-America honors in his time in Ann Arbor, including nine individual national championships and four relay titles. During his time at U-M, Henry has led the Wolverines to 14 Big Ten titles, including seven indoor and seven outdoor. U-M's track and cross country programs also teamed up to win a pair of triple crowns in 1993-94 and 2002-03 (Big Ten cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field titles in the same academic year). Last year in 2014, Henry helped send five athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championships and most recently at this year's Big Ten Outdoor Championships (May 15-17), Henry helped Cindy Ofili and Erin Finn defend their 100m hurdles and 10,000m race titles, respectively.

• Associate head coach Mike McGuire has coached the Wolverine distance runners for nearly 25 years working alongside Henry. A two-time USTFCCCA Division I Assistant Coach of the Year (women's distance) honoree (2005, 2007), he has coached 135 student-athletes to All-America honors, winning four individual national titles and four titles in the distance medley relay, most recently in 2013. Most recently, McGuire helped Erin Finn repeat as the 10,000m Big Ten Outdoor Champion off of a short return from injury, and he led the Wolverines to a 2-3-7-8 finish in the conference's 1,500m race. This year he brings eight athletes to the regional competing across five events.

• Assistant coach Sandy Fowler works exclusively with the U-M throwers, and is now approaching the end of her fourth campaign with the Maize and Blue. This year, Fowler brings her sixth athlete to the NCAA East Regional since joining U-M in 2012 -- freshman Kayla Deering (shot put) -- and she hopes to help Deering become the third to reach the NCAA Championships during her tenure. Prior to her time in Ann Arbor, Fowler coached the Alabama women's track and field program for 14 years following a few other stops, guiding nearly 30 athletes to All-American status, including 2011 indoor shot put national champion Willamena Hopkins.

THE 2015 WOLVERINES

• Team Captains: Fifth-year seniors Alexandra Leptich, Elly Mioduszewski and Amber Smith are joined by senior Brook Handler in their duties as team captains for the 2015 season.

• All-Americans Back for More: This season, the Wolverines returned eight athletes with All-America honors under their belts: Shannon Osika (2x in mile run, 2x in DMR), Maya Long (3x in DMR), Erin Finn (10,000-meter run; 5,000-meter run), Cindy Ofili (60-meter hurdles; 100-meter hurdles), Aaron Howell (Heptathlon), Brook Handler (2x DMR; 1,500-meter run), Danielle Pfeifer (2x) and Jaimie Phelan (DMR).

A LOOK AHEAD
Wed-Sat., June 10-13 -- at NCAA Outdoor Championships (Eugene, Oregon)

Communications Contact: Chad Shepard (734) 763-4423