Season Preview: 2019 Michigan Women's Indoor Track and Field
1/8/2019 3:58:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Led by a corps of All-Americans, school record-holders, up-and-comers and new Wolverines, the University of Michigan women's track and field team is ready for a 2019 season that features the first Big Ten Indoor Championships in the program's new state-of-the-art facility.
Michigan's journey to the Big Ten Championships -- and beyond to the NCAA Indoor Championships -- begins Saturday (Jan. 12) as the squad hosts the Wolverine Invitational in the world-class U-M Indoor Track Building, now in its second year of operation. Head coaches James Henry and Jerry Clayton will lead the Wolverines into the first of three home meets building up to the conference championships.
Saturday will be a starting point for a team that features not only three All-Americans, both a reigning individual and relay conference champion, and a pair of individual school record-holders, but also a class of up-and-coming underclassmen and newcomers that shows great potential.
The Team, The Team, The Team
» The Wolverines finished eighth with 60 points at the 2018 Big Ten Indoor Championships, missing seventh-place Wisconsin by just one point and finishing just 15 points shy of third place in a tightly fought team battle. Though the Wolverines will not have the services of 2018 champions Claire Kieffer-Wright (high jump, only has outdoor eligibility remaining) and Haley Meier (mile), they do hold the distance medley relay title and will welcome 10-time Big Ten champion Erin Finn back into the fold for one final season.
» Returning as scorers from the 2018 Big Ten Championships are Micaela DeGenero (sixth, 800 meters), Hannah Meier (seventh, mile), two of four members from the winning distance medley relay team and three of four from the fifth-place 4x400 relay.
» Michigan does not return any NCAA Indoor Championships qualifiers from the 2018 season, but will be boosted by the return of three-time NCAA Indoor Championships runner-up Finn. She was runner-up both at 3,000 and 5,000 meters in 2016 and at 5,000 meters in 2017. She is the only woman in college history to have run 15:30 or fastest in multiple NCAA 5,000-meter indoor finals.
Wolverines to Watch
» Returning All-Americans: Finn (indoor 3,000 and 5,000, outdoor 5,000 and 10,000, and cross country); Jade Harrison (distance medley relay)
» Returning 2018 Big Ten Indoor Championships scorers: DeGenero (800 meters); Meier (mile)
» Current school record-holders: Finn (indoor 3,000 and 5,000, outdoor 5,000 and 10,000); Chloe Foster (indoor 4x400 relay); Julia Hall (indoor 4x400 relay); Jade Harrison (indoor 400 meters, indoor 4x400 relay)
The Path to the Postseason
» The full team begins the season with a pair of home meets in the Wolverine Invitational (Jan. 12) and the Simmons-Harvey Big Ten Invitational (Jan.19). The former will be an opportunity for Michigan to set benchmark performances to begin its season, while the latter will be a pseudo preview of the Big Ten Championships against the likes of Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska Ohio State and Penn State.
» Select athletes from the team will head to Saginaw Valley State (Jan. 25-26) to compete in the Jet's Pizza Invitational for additional experience.
» The full team reassembles for the third-and-final regular-season home meet of the year as Michigan welcomes some of the nation's best programs for the Power Five Invitational (Feb. 1-2). Set to challenge the Wolverines are Big Ten foes Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as Georgia Tech, Louisville and Pitt from the ACC; Kansas from the Big 12; and Vanderbilt from the SEC.
» Michigan will split up one more time during the regular season as select competitors head to either Vanderbilt or Iowa State (Feb. 8-9) for one last chance at a national-caliber tune-up ahead of the Big Ten Championships. The crew bound for Iowa State likely will be comprised mostly of distance runners, while the rest of the team will set off for Vanderbilt.
» Any final tune-ups that are needed in the week leading up to Big Tens will take place at the Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational (Feb. 16), including a potential run by the distance medley relay team. The meet is well-known as a prominent meet for DMR teams trying to advance to nationals.
» Michigan will host the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 22-23. This marks the first-ever championship meet held in the new U-M Indoor Track Building.
» Those student-athletes who finish the season ranked among the top-16 in their individual events will qualify to compete at the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 8-9. Depending on which athletes around the country decide to compete in which events and decline to compete in others, the qualifying number could stretch down to top 20.
Players Mentioned
