Early Signing Period for Michigan Yields One of Nation's Best Recruiting Classes
11/16/2017 1:30:00 PM | Women's Cross Country, Women's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan track and field co-head coaches James Henry and Jerry Clayton and associate head coach Mike McGuire welcomed to the Wolverine family eight standout female student-athletes from around the nation who signed their National Letters of Intent during the early signing period that ran Nov. 8-15.
Maddie Brand, Maddy Denner, Anne Forsyth, Jessi Larson, Aurora Rynda, Amanda Schaare, Olivia Theis and Megan Worrel are the first eight members of a 2017-18 recruiting class that will make history as the first Michigan track and field / cross country cohort that will practice and compete exclusively in the University's brand-new, state-of-the-art complex set to open later this month.
"It isn't a coincidence that one of our best early signing classes in a long time comes in as we are about to move into our new world-class facility," Henry said. "The young women in this exciting class are the same caliber of student-athletes as the many former and current Wolverine greats whose successes and achievements built Michigan track and field and cross country into what it is today. With the new complex as their home for the next four or five years, our program's history will only continue to grow as they create legacies of their own."
With a heavy emphasis on distance recruits, this corps of early signers includes a number of future Wolverines who will make an impact in Ann Arbor from the very beginning of their Michigan careers. The group -- spanning from coast to coast with members from Michigan, California and New Jersey, as well as Ontario, Canada -- has combined to win 10 state or provincial titles among 34 top-10 state/province-level finishes.
The combination of Theis (No. 10), Forsyth (No. 20) and Denner (No. 21) gives Michigan three of Milesplit's top 21 recruits in the nation -- a haul unmatched at present by any other program in the country -- in addition to the Canadian Rynda, who is among her home country's all-time top youth runners.
Forsyth and Theis are national leaders among seniors in one event apiece -- the outdoor 1,600-meter and outdoor two-mile, respectively -- while Rynda is one of the fastest Canadian high school mid-distance runners in history.
Five Americans among the group are their respective states' top-ranked seniors in at least one event, and four are ranked top-10 nationally in at least one event.
"It's as strong of a class as we've ever assembled, and there will still be others that we add to it," McGuire said. "For the work we've done up through now, it's been a lot of hard work in identifying people who we feel can succeed in the classroom, on the track and on the cross country course, and who are all team-oriented. They are people who will develop within the framework of the team, similar to the outstanding student-athletes we've had in years past. They're bringing some strong intangibles outside of their personal bests in whichever event they're doing."
MADDIEÂ BRAND
Distance | Middletown, N.J. | Middletown South High School
• Top-ranked senior in the state of New Jersey in the outdoor mile (44th nationally)
• No. 2-ranked senior in the state of New Jersey over 1,600 meters indoors (10th nationally) and third in the state outdoors
• No. 4-ranked senior in the state of New Jersey over 800 meters outdoors
• Finished top-six in the state both indoors and outdoors over 1,600 meters in 2017
McGuire's Analysis: "Maddie has had a great fall. She is typical of our recruits, historically, as her prowess is the middle-distance events during the track season but has expanded her range to excel in cross country this fall. We feel strongly that her best running is ahead of her, and her range of abilities makes her someone who we believe will be a solid contributor to this program."
High School Personal Bests:
800m (outdoor) -- 2:13.67
1600m (outdoor) -- 4:56.53
1600m (indoor) -- 5:02.98
Mile (outdoor) -- 5:01.38
3200m (indoor) -- 12:42.74
5k (XC) -- 18:10.00
MADDY DENNER
Distance | El Dorado Hills, Calif. | Oak Ridge High School
• Top-ranked senior in the state of California over 1,600 meters and ranked No. 2 in the nation
• Ranked No. 2 in the state of California among seniors over 3,200 meters and No. 4 nationally
• Ranked No. 3 in the state of California among seniors in the mile and No. 8 in the country
• Won the 2017 CIF State Championship Final over 1,600 meters and finished second over 3,200 meters
• Finished 14th at the 2016 CIF State Championship Cross Country Final
McGuire's Analysis: "Maddy is someone who is an outstanding student-athlete. She is someone who is very committed to being a great runner, and I think she will be. She has displayed great range from being the California mile champ to running great cross country times, so we see her as someone who can come in right away and contribute in cross country and on the track."
High School Personal Bests:
800m (outdoor) -- 2:16.01
1600m (outdoor) -- 4:44.89
Mile (outdoor) -- 4:50.32
3200m (outdoor) -- 10:15.18
5k (XC) -- 16:58.70
ANNE FORSYTH
Distance | Ann Arbor, Mich. | Pioneer High School
• Top-ranked senior in the nation at 1,600 meters outdoors, one of six events in which she is ranked top-10 nationally (No. 2 at 1600m, No. 3 at 1500m, No. 4 in outdoor mile, No. 6 in indoor mile, No. 8 at 3200m)
• Finished runner-up in the championship mile and in the 4x800 relay at the 2017 New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet
• Finished fifth at the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships and 14th at Nike Cross Nationals in 2016
• Top-ranked senior in the state of Michigan in five different events: the outdoor 1,500-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter events, as well as both the indoor and outdoor miles. She is also ranked No. 2 over 800 meters and 1,600 meters indoors, and No. 3 at 800 meters outdoors
• Ranked No. 2 in Michigan high school history over 1,500 meters, No. 4 in the indoor mile, No. 5 in the outdoor 1,600 meters, No. 6 in the outdoor mile and No. 7 in the 3,200 meters outdoors
• Won MHSAA D1 state titles in both the 1,600 meters and the 4x800 relay in 2017 to go along with a runner-up finish at 3,200 meters
• Second-generation Michigan track and field student-athlete, as her parents Ian and Jessica (Kluge) both competed for the Wolverines
McGuire's Analysis: "Anne is coming from an outstanding high school program. She is a very accomplished cross country and track runner and a very team-oriented person who I feel will merge right into what we're doing here at Michigan. My recruitment of Anne began when her mom brought her home from the hospital. Her mom, Jessica, was the captain of my 1994 cross country team, and her dad was an outstanding national champ on the distance medley relay for us here. She will come in and have an impact right away in both cross country and track."
High School Personal Bests:
800m (outdoor) -- 2:12.34
800m (indoor) -- 2:15.70
1500m (outdoor) -- 4:23.74
1600m (outdoor) -- 4:43.84
1600m (indoor) -- 4:55.18
Mile (outdoor) -- 4:47.83
Mile (indoor) -- 4:54.42
3200m (outdoor) -- 10:21.92
3200m (indoor) -- 10:40.30
2 Mile (indoor) -- 11:03.84
5k (XC) -- 16:50.30
JESSI LARSON
Distance | Saline, Mich. | Saline High School
• Two-time top-four finisher at the MHSAA D1 Cross Country Championships, finishing fourth as a senior in 2017 and second as a sophomore in 2015. Qualified to the state meet all four seasons
• Ran 16:50.66 over 5,000 meters outdoors as a sophomore in 2016 as one of only 10 girls in the country who broke 17 minutes that season
• Ranked No. 7 among seniors in the state of Michigan over 3,200 meters outdoors
McGuire's Analysis: "Jessi is a local student-athlete who we've had our eye on for quite a while. She's battled back from injury setbacks in her junior year, and I thought she had a great fall leading up to a fourth-place finish at states. She has already run 16:50 on the track for 5K, so she's bringing something on her athletic resume that not a lot of high schoolers have. She is someone who will grow within the program and be a really solid contributor."
High School Personal Bests:
1600m (outdoor) -- 5:09.54
Mile (indoor) -- 5:09.24
3200m (outdoor) -- 10:55.7
3200m (indoor) -- 11:01.7
2 mile (indoor) -- 10:44.28
5000m (outdoor) -- 16:50.7
5000m (indoor) -- 17:31.85
5K (XC) -- 17:30.9
AURORA RYNDA
Mid-Distance | Toronto, Ontario | Lawrence Park High School
• Ranked No. 2 on the all-time Canadian U18 list for the outdoor 800 meters in 2:05.94 and No. 5 on the list for the indoor 800m
• Ranked No. 13 on the IAAF World U18 list for 800 meters during the 2017 season
• Took third place over 800 meters in the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games and fourth place in the Canadian Championships U20 competition
• 2017 Ontario Federation of School Athletics (OFSAA) outdoor champion over 800 meters to go along with a fourth-place finish over 400 meters
• Finished 13th at the 2017 OFSAA Cross Country Championships in the six-kilometer senior race
McGuire's Analysis: "Aurora is coming in with marks just a little bit behind what Geena Gall, who was a national champion for us and an Olympian, ran in high school, so we are very excited for her potential. She will impact us immediately in the 600 and 800 indoors and the 800 outdoors -- and her range could even extend to 1,500 meters -- and she will be a viable option on both the distance medley and 4x400 relays."
High School Personal Bests
800m (outdoor) -- 2:05.94
800m (indoor) -- 2:10.83
600m (indoor) -- 1:31.72
400m (outdoor) -- 55.17
400m relay split (outdoors) -- 54.2h
400m (indoor) -- 56.79
AMANDA SCHAARE
Throws | Clinton, Mich. | Clinton High School
• Ranked No. 2 among seniors in the state of Michigan in the discus and ranked No. 21 nationally among seniors
• Ranked No. 2 in the state among seniors in the indoor shot put and No. 3 in the outdoor shot put
• Won the 2017 MHSAA D3 State title in the discus and finished seventh in the shot put, and finished runner-up and 10th in those same events in 2016.
Clayton's Analysis: "She's a three-sport athlete with volleyball and basketball, so that excited me a lot, and she is someone who comes from a smaller school and has done a lot of her development on her own. I really think she is going to grow into her own this year as a senior, and she has the necessary athleticism. I can make an athlete into a thrower, but it's much harder to make a thrower into an athlete, and she brings that athletic ability to the table."
High School Career Bests
Shot Put (indoor) -- 11.53m (37-10)
Shot Put (outdoor) -- 11.95m (39-2.5)
Discus (outdoor) -- 44.37m (145-7)
OLIVIA THEIS
Distance | Lansing, Mich. | Lansing Catholic High School
• Top-ranked senior in the country over the two-mile distance, good for third all-time in Michigan high school history, after finishing runner-up in the championship section at the 2017 New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet
• Course record-holder for the five-kilometer distance at Michigan International Speedway, the annual site of the MHSAA State Cross Country Championships, after winning the 2017 D2 state title
• Finished 14th at the 2016 Foot Locker National Championships in cross country
• Ranked second in the state among seniors outdoors over 1,600 meters, one mile and 3,200 meters. Nationally, she is ranked eighth over 1,600 meters and 16th over 3,200 meters among seniors
• Won two state titles in 2017, sweeping the 1,600- and 3,200-meter events at the MHSAA D2 State Championships
McGuire's Analysis: "Olivia has really come into her own from track season on until this fall when she ran the fastest time ever run at Michigan International Speedway to win the state meet. She has all the ingredients -- ability, desire, focus -- coming out of a fantastic program at Lansing Catholic, and she is someone I think could have a great, great future here."
High School Personal Bests
800m (outdoor) -- 2:16.85
1600m (outdoor) -- 4:50.10
1 Mile (outdoor) -- 5:14.33
3200m (outdoor) -- 10:30.49
2 Miles (outdoor) -- 10:14.34
5K (XC) -- 16:52.10
MEGAN WORREL
Distance | Troy, Mich. | Troy High School
• Top-ranked senior in the state of Michigan at 800 meters indoors and ranked No. 11 nationally over that distance. Outdoors she is ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 30 nationally among seniors
• Won the 2017 MITS indoor state title at 800 meters and finished runner-up outdoors at the 2017 MHSAA D1 State Championships the following spring
• Ranked No. 21 on the all-time Michigan high school list for the indoor 800 and is No 30 on the all-time outdoor list
• Also ranked No. 5 among seniors in the state in the indoor mile, No. 6 in the indoor 1,600 meters and No. 7 in the outdoor 1,600 meters
• Finished 14th at the 2017 MHSAA D1 State Cross Country Championships after taking 35th in her debut at the meet in 2016
McGuire's Analysis: "We had Megan at camp this summer, and we've been following her achievements as someone we've really had a target on for the past year and a half. She has really good range, probably a little more accomplished in the shorter distances, but her range goes down to the 400 where she has better-than-average speed in line with milers who have done really well in our program over the years."
High School Personal Bests:
800m (indoor) -- 2:15.12
800m (outdoor) -- 2:11.59
1600m (indoor) -- 5:19.27
1600m (outdoor) -- 4:54.85
1 mile (outdoor) -- 5:06.57
1 mile (indoor) -- 5:18.26
3200m (outdoor) -- 10:58.33
5K -- 17:57.00
Players Mentioned
