Michigan
Stanford Invitational
All-Americans Set to Debut for Wolverine Women at Stanford
3/28/2019 2:36:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
» The University of Michigan women's track and field team continues to ramp up its outdoor season on Friday and Saturday (March 29-30) at the Stanford Invitational.
» This weekend will see the 2019 outdoor debuts of All-Americans Claire Kieffer-Wright, Hannah Meier, Alice Hill, Aurora Rynda and Meg Darmofal.
» Looking to build on strong 2019 campaigns after debuting in the past two weeks will be the likes of Chloe Foster, Micaela DeGenero and Bailey Baker.
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., March 29-30 -- at Stanford Invitational (Palo Alto, Calif.), 11 a.m. PT / 10 a.m. PT
Meet Info | Live Results | Live Stream
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Several All-Americans and Big Ten champions are set to make their 2019 outdoor season debuts for the University of Michigan women's track and field team this weekend as the Wolverines head west to Palo Alto, California, for the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday (March 29-30).
Among the 34 Wolverine women set to compete for the first time this spring in the two-day competition are indoor All-Americans Hannah Meier, Alice Hill, Aurora Rynda and Meg Darmofal. Also expected to compete for the first time since 2018 is two-time Big Ten champion and All-American high jumper Claire Kieffer-Wright.
They will join a corps of sprinters, distance runners, jumpers and throwers who have already posted solid season-opening marks over the past two weekends, headlined by NCAA East Regional top-10 performers Chloe Foster and Micaela DeGenero.
Michigan will kick off its weekend at Stanford on Friday morning at 11 a.m. PDT in the field events, with the first action on the track to begin at 12:15 p.m. PDT. The day's proceedings -- which accounts for nearly two-thirds of the Wolverine women's entries for the two-day competition -- should wrap up by around 8 p.m. PDT
Saturday begins for the Wolverines in the field events at 10 a.m. PDT, with events on the track for Michigan set to commence later in the afternoon at 1:46 p.m. PDT. U-M will conclude its weekend in Palo Alto at approximately 7:30 p.m. PDT.
Among the goals for the Wolverines this weekend is to start to put up marks that will ultimately put them among the top 48 in their respective events in the NCAA East Region. Those ranked top-48 after the Big Ten Championships in May will be assured of qualifying for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in late May, which serve as the feeder meet into the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
This weekend's meet will be streamed live on FloTrack's subscription streaming platform, and live results will be provided by Record Timing. Live updates can also be found on the official Michigan track and field Twitter account, @umichtrack.
Wolverines to Watch
• After missing the 2018 outdoor season with an injury, two-time conference high jump champion Kieffer-Wright will compete for the first time since earning second team All-America honors at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships. She will make her return starting at 3:30 p.m. PDT on Friday, though she may pass the first few bars and actually enter the competition at a later time.
• The 1,500-meter event on Friday -- split between afternoon and evening sessions at 1:24 p.m. PDT and 6:36 p.m. PDT, respectively -- will be filled with All-American star power. Meier, the fourth-fastest indoor miler in the nation indoors this winter, will compete for the first time in the outdoor-equivalent event, and she will be joined by indoor distance medley relay All-Americans Hill and Darmofal. Also in the event are Michigan's fastest woman at both 800 and 1,500 meters so far this spring in DeGenero and cross country All-American Camille Davre.
• Hurdler Foster also ran a leg of the All-American distance medley relay earlier this month, and has already parlayed that success into a career-best performance outdoors. Just one week after running a new personal-record 59.33 in the 400-meter hurdles, Foster will look to become just the fifth woman in school history to go sub-59 when she races at 3:12 p.m. PDT.
• The final member of the All-American DMR -- Aurora Rynda -- will make her Michigan outdoor debut on Saturday. After winning the Big Ten Indoor Championships 600-meter title, she will turn her focus outdoors to the 800-meter distance, starting at 2:27 p.m. PDT.
• Michigan's throws corps is already off to a strong start this spring, and will look to build on it this weekend in Palo Alto. The weekend opens with Briana Nelson looking to crack the all-time Michigan top 10 in the invitational shot put on Friday at 11 a.m. PDT, and is followed later in the day by teammate Bailey Baker in the invitational hammer throw at 3 p.m. PDT
The full schedule of competitors can be found below, followed by a 2019 outdoor season outlook.
When to Watch the Wolverines
| Friday (March 29) | Event | Round | Time (PDT) |
| Erin Connor | Shot Put | Final | 11:00 AM |
| Briana Nelson | Shot Put | Final (Invite) | 11:00 AM |
| Jeryne Fish | Long Jump | Final | 11:30 AM |
| Tiana Luton | Long Jump | Final | 11:30 AM |
| Tiana Luton | 100-meter hurdles | Prelims | 12:00 PM |
| Theresa Mayanja | 100-meter hurdles | Prelims | 12:00 PM |
| Sydney McGinley | 100-meter hurdles | Prelims | 12:00 PM |
| Lauren Rodriguez | 100-meter hurdles | Prelims | 12:00 PM |
| Jeryne Fish | 100-meter dash | Prelims | 12:43 PM |
| Jade Harrison | 100-meter dash | Prelims | 12:43 PM |
| Sydney McGinley | 100-meter dash | Prelims | 12:43 PM |
| Audrey Belf | 1,500-meter run | Final | 1:24 PM |
| Lauren Biggs | 1,500-meter run | Final | 1:24 PM |
| Lexi Munley | 1,500-meter run | Final | 1:24 PM |
| Faith Reynolds | ,1500-meter run | Final | 1:24 PM |
| Camille Davre | 1,500-meter run | Final | 1:36 PM |
| Micaela DeGenero | 1,500-meter run | Final | 1:36 PM |
| Finalist TBD | 100-meter hurdles | Final | 2:11 PM |
| Finalist TBD | 100-meter dash | Final | 2:24 PM |
| Jessica Mercier | Pole Vault | Final (Invite) | 2:30 PM |
| Bailey Baker | Hammer Throw | Final (Invite) | 3:00 PM |
| Chloe Foster | 400-meter hurdles | Final | 3:12 PM |
| Sydney McGinley | 400-meter hurdles | Final | 3:12 PM |
| Lauren Rodriguez | 400-meter hurdles | Final | 3:12 PM |
| Claire Kieffer-Wright | High Jump | Final (Invite) | 3:30 PM |
| Katt Miner | High Jump | Final (Invite) | 3:30 PM |
| Julia Hall | 400-meter dash | Final | 4:29 PM |
| Jade Harrison | 400-meter dash | Final | 4:29 PM |
| Emma Lane | 400-meter dash | Final | 4:29 PM |
| Jenna Reid | 400-meter dash | Final | 4:29 PM |
| Meg Darmofal | 1,500-meter run | Final | 6:36 PM |
| Alice Hill | 1,500-meter run | Final | 6:42 PM |
| Hannah Meier | 1,500-meter run | Final | 6:42 PM |
| Kathryn House | 5,000-meter run | Final | 7:15 PM |
| Jessi Larson | 5,000-meter run | Final | 7:15 PM |
| Jena Metwalli | 5,000-meter run | Final | 7:15 PM |
| Raquel Powers | 5,000-meter run | Final | 7:15 PM |
| Faith Reynolds | 5,000-meter run | Final | 7:15 PM |
| Anna West | 5,000-meter run | Final | 7:15 PM |
| Maddy Trevisan | 5,000-meter run | Final | 7:35 PM |
| Saturday (March 30) | Event | Round | Time (PT) |
| Kayla Deering | Hammer Throw | Final | 10:00 AM |
| Briana Nelson | Hammer Throw | Final | 10:00 AM |
| Tiana Luton | Javelin | Final | 1:00 PM |
| Theresa Mayanja | Javelin | Final | 1:00 PM |
| Michigan | 4x100 relay | Final | 1:37 PM |
| Lauren Biggs | 800-meter run | Final | 2:27 PM |
| Meg Darmofal | 800-meter run | Final | 2:27 PM |
| Camille Davre | 800-meter run | Final | 2:27 PM |
| Alice Hill | 800-meter run | Final | 2:27 PM |
| Carola Jansohn | 800-meter run | Final | 2:27 PM |
| Lexi Munley | 800-meter run | Final | 2:27 PM |
| Aurora Rynda | 800-meter run | Final | 2:27 PM |
| Julia Hall | 200-meter dash | Final | 3:12 PM |
| Jade Harrison | 200-meter dash | Final | 3:12 PM |
| Tiana Luton | 200-meter dash | Final | 3:12 PM |
| Theresa Mayanja | 200-meter dash | Final | 3:12 PM |
| Michigan | 4x400 relay | Final | 4:58 PM |
| Bailey Baker | Discus | Final | 5:00 PM |
2019 Season Outlook
• The Wolverines tied three other teams for fifth at the 2018 Big Ten Indoor Championships with 60 points, but face the prospect of having lost all but 16 of those points to graduation. Michigan will be hoping for sixth-year graduate student Erin Finn -- a 10-time conference winner -- to bounce back from injury this winter and reclaim her 2018 title at 10,000 meters, which accounts for 10 of those 16 points.
• The Wolverine women will also be bolstered by the return of two-time Big Ten high jump champion Claire Kieffer-Wright in her final season of eligibility and the likes of 2019 indoor champions Hannah Meier and Aurora Rynda. Meier was the indoor mile champion and the nation's fourth-fastest miler during the indoor season, while Rynda claimed the conference title at 600 meters and ran on the first team All-America distance medley relay.
• In addition to Finn, Meier and Rynda -- who was the No. 32 woman in the country for 800 meters this winter -- the Wolverines will be looking to get some big output from its deep well of distance talent. After finishing seventh in 3,000-meter steeplechase at the IAAF World U20 Championships last summer, Alice Hill will compete in her first full season in the event. Though she did not run the event during the NCAA circuit in 2018, she has the fastest time of any Big Ten competitor and the No. 9 time among all collegians entering the 2019 season.
• Camille Davre will look to recapture the same form that saw her earn All-America honors during cross country, and Anne Forsyth will look to do likewise as the Big Ten Cross Country Freshman of the Year.
• Michigan also will be looking for continued development from the likes of Meg Darmofal, who was fifth at Big Tens in the mile and the anchor of Michigan's All-American distance medley relay; Kathryn House, who has twice finished ninth in Big Ten 5,000-meter finals; and Micaela DeGenero, who has twice scored for the Wolverines in the indoor 800-meter Big Ten final.
• Though she is only a true sophomore, no one in school history has put together quite the resume as Chloe Foster. Already a member of the school-record indoor distance medley relay and 4x400 relay teams, she is individually No. 5 in school history at 400 meters indoors, No. 6 at 600 meters indoors, and No. 10 both in the 400-meter hurdles and 400 meters. She will be chasing Amber Hay's 10-year-old school record of 57.44 in the 400-meter hurdles, having already exceeded Hay's career bests in both the indoor and outdoor 400-meter races and the indoor 600.
• Jade Harrison once more leads the Wolverines in the non-hurdle sprint races, returning from eighth-place Big Ten Outdoor finishes in 2018 in the 200 meters and 4x100 relay. Outdoors, Harrison is ranked No. 5 in school history at 400 meters, No. 6 at 200 meters and No. 6 at 100 meters.
• Joining 2017 outdoor champion and 2018 indoor champion Kieffer-Wright in the high jump will be last year's eighth-place finisher and NCAA East Preliminaries qualifier Katt Miner. The pair will look to give Michigan big points in the high jump come the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Also in the vertical jumps, freshman pole vaulter Jessica Mercier will look to continue her rapid development after finishing fourth at Big Ten Indoors and moving to No. 4 in school history.
• After a historic indoor weight throw season for Bailey Baker and Kayla Deering that saw them finish their winter careers as co-school-record-holders, they will aim to translate that to the closest outdoor analogue in the hammer throw. They are ranked No. 6 and No. 12 in school history, respectively, but are poised for big breakthroughs after having both redshirted the 2018 season to train. Two years of preparation should have them up near teammate Courtney Jacobson, who is No. 2 in school history as a two-time eighth-place finisher at Big Tens.
Players Mentioned
