Ofili, Finn Named Academic All-Americans
6/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
June 24, 2016
• Michigan's Academic All-Americans
AUSTIN, Texas -- Senior co-captain Cindy Ofili and junior/sophomore Erin Finn of the University of Michigan women's track and field team were voted to the Capital One Academic All-American team, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced on Friday (June 24).
Finn was selected to the first team, and Ofili was named to the second team, marking the sixth time in the past seven seasons that U-M has had at least one honoree named to the first, second or third teams.
Ofili has finished her schoolwork towards a degree in elementary education and will complete her necessary student teaching credits this fall, while Finn is a rising academic senior with a sparkling GPA, nearing her degree in biochemistry.
In addition to her success on the track, Finn also competes for the U-M cross country program, making her one of just 11 three-season athletes honored this year. During last fall's cross country season, Michigan finished sixth in the nation after a runner-up Big Ten finish and an NCAA Great Lakes Regional title. She was the Big Ten individual champion and Athlete of the Year and collected all-region honors after finishing fifth before running to a 19th-place finish at the NCAA meet. In that race, she ran nearly 4,000 meters of the 6,000-meter race with no shoes on after her heels were clipped about 2,000 meters in. Finn was also among U-M's 13 academic all-conference honorees for the fall.
On the track, this duo combined for 51 points (36 points indoors and 15 outdoors) during the Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Championships, helping U-M sweep the conference meets for the first time since 2003, and it should be noted that Finn redshirted the outdoor season. Michigan scored its most points at the indoor conference meet since 2009, reaching the 60-point plateau at both meets, and boasted All-America honors in four of five events at the NCAA Indoor Championships (3K, 5K, 100-meter hurdles, DMR).
The owner of five Michigan records, Ofili earned her first NCAA championship this winter, taking the 60-meter hurdles crown in 7.89 seconds (No. 6 all-time, NCAA) to break the final program standard formerly held by her sister, five-time national champion Tiffany (Ofili) Porter. When Ofili won the 100-meter hurdles title in a facility-record 12.91 at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships last month (May 13-15), she became the second woman to ever three-peat at the event in the Big Ten -- the first since 1993 -- and wrapped up her fifth career conference crown. She also scored in the 100-meter dash and was named Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year after her impressive season that included an undefeated mark in 100-meter hurdle races, her signature event. Ofili currently ranks No. 7 in the world with her season-best time of 12.66. Her PR of 12.60 ranks tied-No. 4 all-time in collegiate history and earned her an NCAA runner-up finish in 2015, which she followed up on by placing fourth earlier this month.
She became the first athlete in Michigan history (male or female) named to the Bowerman Award Watch List when she was recognized among the top 10 vote-getters for the award earlier this year, and other accolades this season include the NAACP Michigan Chapter Wilma Rudolph Award and the Bob Ufer Quarterback Club Senior Award among others. She and her sister are two of five women in the history of Drake Relays to repeat event wins in the 100-meter hurdles, and after adding five this season, the younger Ofili has now garnered 12 Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week honors.
Finn has already met the Olympic standard in both the 5,000 (15:23.16) and 10,000-meter (31:51.84) races, having opted to redshirt this outdoor season while she pursues her goals of international competition at the U.S. Olympic Trials this summer (July 1-10). Her 5K time broke her own program record, and the 10K time would have eclipsed that record as well had she been competing for U-M instead of running unattached at Stanford's Payton Jordan Invitational (May 1). In fact, that 10K time is No. 6 in NCAA history and No. 3 among American collegians and ranks as the fastest time ever recorded by a native Michigander.
Indoors, Finn certainly left her mark, becoming the first U-M athlete to earn first team (top-eight) All-America honors in the 3K and 5K during the same NCAA championship meet after her pair of runner-up finishes in those two races. Her national-level performance came after she swept the Big Ten 3K and 5K titles, the fifth and sixth of her career, respectively. Finn has one year of cross country and two full years of track and field eligibility remaining.
A number of former and current Wolverines are preparing for and competing in national qualifying events for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. U.S. Olympic trials run from July 1-10 at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, while the first athletes in action will compete in the U.K. this weekend. Both Ofili and her older sister Tiffany (Ofili) Porter will run in the 100-meter hurdles on Saturday (June 25) in Birmingham, England. The race is set to begin at 1:35 p.m. local time (8:35 a.m. ET).
Communications Contact: Chad Shepard
