Michigan
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Baker, Finn Score for Wolverines to Kick Off Big Tens
5/10/2019 10:28:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Francis X. Cretzmeyer Track)
Event: Big Ten Outdoor Championships (Day 1 of 3)
U-M in the standings: T-7th of 13 teams (6 points)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, May 11 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships - Day 2 (Iowa City, Iowa), 10:15 a.m. CDT
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A pair of school record-holders put points on the board for the University of Michigan women's track and field team on the first of three days at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships on Friday (May 10).
Thrower Bailey Baker followed up her school record last Friday (May 3) with a fifth-place showing in the hammer, while Big Ten legend Erin Finn took seventh in her final conference championship race at 10,000 meters.
With Baker's four points and Finn's two from their respective performances, the Wolverines closed out day one in a three-way seventh-place tie with Purdue and Wisconsin. Nebraska is the early leader with 22 points, followed by Indiana with 21, Penn State with 19 and Minnesota with 18.
Baker picked up right where she left off during her school-record-breaking performance at the Len Paddock Open last Friday, coming within 10 centimeters of her own all-time mark on Friday. After opening with a 61.33m (201 feet, 2 inches) mark that would have been a school record eight days ago, she posted a 61.80m (202-9) on her second throw for her best mark of the day.
She would tack on another significant heave of 61.45m (201-7) on her third attempt in what would go down as the best finish by a Wolverine women's hammer thrower since Emily Pendleton was runner-up in 2010.
Though she did not score for the Wolverines on Friday, Kayla Deering posted a career-best throw of 58.88m (193-2) that puts her on the bubble for qualification to the NCAA East Preliminaries.
Later in the evening, Finn took seventh at 10,000 meters in a solid 33:23.17 on just over a month of training.
Finn -- a three-time conference champ at this distance -- took the lead at the 4,000-meter split and did not relinquish it until about 500 meters to go. All along the way, she clicked off near-metronomic 78- and 79-second laps to grind the lead pack down to just seven runners.
With 500 to go, a group of four runners found another gear that Finn could not match, and she dropped to seventh by race's end.
Finn now has options for the NCAA East Prelims postseason, with qualifying times both at 5,000 and 10,000 meters. With two more weeks of training before the East Preliminaries and potentially two more weeks after that until the NCAA Championships, Finn is still very much a force to be reckoned with.
Also potentially making bids for qualifying times to the NCAA East Prelims were Raquel Powers in 34:39.34 (16th) and Maddy Trevisan in 35:05.66 (19th). Both are below the qualifying cutoff from last year, but will need to wait until after this weekend to see where they land on the leaderboard.
In addition to the pair of finals, the Friday schedule also featured qualifying rounds on the track in two different events for the Wolverines. Of the five chances Michigan had to advance student-athletes on to final-round competitions on Sunday (May 12), the Wolverines capitalized on three of them.
Two of those berths came at the 1,500-meter distance as Micaela DeGenero and Meg Darmofal survived and advanced with automatic qualifying berths into Sunday's final (1:15 p.m. CDT).
DeGenero impressed with a runner-up finish in the first heat, clocking 4:20.30 for a nearly-three-second career best as she placed second only to NCAA champion Danae Rivers of Penn State in the overall prelims leaderboard between all heats.
Rivers pushed the pace throughout and DeGenero was there at every move to keep pace. Her persistence not only earned her a berth to Sunday's final, but it also almost certainly garnered her a berth to the NCAA East Preliminaries.
In the following heat, Darmofal sewed up her own automatic qualifying berth with a third-place effort in 4:23.92. It was Darmofal who was driving the bus for the pace of the race in her heat, and she led a three-woman breakaway with another NCAA champion in Ohio State's Julia Rizk. By the time they came off the final turn, Darmofal and her three-woman pack were well clear of the rest of the pack.
Chloe Foster continued her breakthrough season as she punched her ticket into Sunday's 400-meter hurdles final with a win in her qualifying heat. Foster earned an automatic berth as she powered down the homestretch to a near personal-record 58.76. Her time was the fifth-fastest of the preliminaries, putting her in strong position to make a run at big team points for the Wolverines at 2:28 p.m. CDT on Sunday.
Full Michigan results for the first day, as well as notes on when to expect the remainder of the events to be contested, can be found below.
The second of three days at Big Tens commences Saturday morning at 10:15 a.m. CDT as Mayanja gets underway in the final three events of the heptathlon. Action in the field gets underway at 4:30 p.m. CDT with simultaneous starts for the pole vault, shot put and long jump.
The track session kicks off at 4:15 p.m. CDT with qualifying rounds in the 400 meters, 100-meter hurdles and 800 meters leading up to the final of the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 6:45 p.m. CDT.
Notably, Alice Hill enters as the top seed in the steeplechase and Jessica Mercier will hope to replicate the fourth-place finish she had in the Big Ten Indoor Championships pole vault this winter as a true freshman.
Collegiate Career-Best Performances
Career debuts in events not included; indoor career bests are considered separate, even for the same event; wind-aided performances (greater than +2.0m/s) are not included.
Camille Davre -- 4:25.35 / 1,500m (O)
Kayla Deering -- 58.88m (193-2) / Hammer Throw (O)
Micaela DeGenero -- 4:20.30 / 1,500m (O)
Theresa Mayanja -- 26.33 (+1.1m/s) / 200m (O)
Theresa Mayanja -- 14.22 (+1.0m/s) / 100m Hurdles (O)
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = Automatic qualifier into final; q = non-automatic qualifier into final; w = wind-aided performance (Wind readings greater than +2.0m/s are considered "wind-aided" and are not eligible for record purposes. Wind readings up to and including +4.0m/s are allowable for NCAA East Preliminaries qualifying purposes.)
400 Meters
Prelims to be contested Saturday; Final to be contested Sunday
800 Meters
Prelims to be contested Saturday; Final to be contested Sunday
1,500 Meters
PRELIMS (Final to be contested Sunday)
2. Micaela DeGenero / 4:20.30Q
12. Meg Darmofal / 4:23.92Q
14. Camille Davre / 4:25.35
16. Jena Metwalli / 4:28.27
5,000 Meters
Final to be contested Sunday
10,000 Meters
FINAL
7. Erin Finn / 33:23.17
16. Raquel Powers / 34:39.34
19. Maddy Trevisan / 35:05.66
100-Meter Hurdles
Prelims to be contested Saturday; Final to be contested Sunday
400-Meter Hurdles
PRELIMS (Final to be contested Sunday)
5. Chloe Foster / 58.76Q
3,000-Meter Steeplechase
Final to be contested Saturday
4x100-Meter Relay
Final to be contested Sunday
4x400-Meter Relay
Final to be contested Sunday
High Jump
Final to be contested Sunday
Pole Vault
Final to be contested Saturday
Long Jump
Final to be contested Saturday
Triple Jump
Final to be contested Sunday
Shot Put
Final to be contested Saturday
Discus Throw
Final to be contested Sunday
Hammer Throw
FINAL
5. Bailey Baker / 61.80m (202-9)
11. Kayla Deering / 58.88m (193-2)
Heptathlon
Through day one of two (4/7 events)
10. Theresa Mayanja / 2,805 points
100-meter hurdles / 14.22 (+1.0m/s) (947 points)
High Jump / 1.45m (4-9) (566 points)
Shot Put / 9.90m (32-5.75) (523 points)
200-meter dash / 26.33 (+1.1m/s) (769 points)
Long Jump / To be contested Saturday
Javelin / To be contested Saturday
800-meter run / To be contested Saturday
Updated Timetable of Michigan Competitors (Saturday and Sunday)
| Saturday (May 11) | Event | Round | Time (CDT) |
| Theresa Mayanja | Long Jump | Heptathlon | 10:15 AM |
| Theresa Mayanja | Javelin | Heptathlon | 11:30 AM |
| Theresa Mayanja | 800-meter run | Heptathlon | 1:45 PM |
| Julia Hall | 400-meter dash | Prelims | 4:15 PM |
| Emma Lane | 400-meter dash | Prelims | 4:15 PM |
| Jessica Mercier | Pole Vault | Final | 4:30 PM |
| Erin Connor | Shot Put | Final | 4:30 PM |
| Briana Nelson | Shot Put | Final | 4:30 PM |
| Jeryne Fish | Long Jump | Final | 4:35 PM |
| Tiana Luton | 100-meter hurdles | Prelims | 5:15 PM |
| Sydney McGinley | 100-meter hurdles | Prelims | 5:15 PM |
| Lauren Rodriguez | 100-meter hurdles | Prelims | 5:15 PM |
| Aurora Rynda | 800-meter run | Prelims | 5:55 PM |
| Alice Hill | Steeplechase | Final | 6:45 PM |
| Megan Worrel | Steeplechase | Final | 6:45 PM |
| Sunday (May 12) | Event | Round | Time (CDT) |
| Bailey Baker | Discus | Final | 11:00 AM |
| Claire Kieffer-Wright | High Jump | Final | 12:30 PM |
| Katt Miner | High Jump | Final | 12:30 PM |
| 4x100 Relay | 4x100 relay | Final | 12:55 PM |
| Micaela DeGenero | 1,500-meter run | Final | 1:15 PM |
| Meg Darmofal | 1,500-meter run | Final | 1:15 PM |
| Finalist TBD | 110-meter hurdles | Final | 1:35 PM |
| Finalist TBD | 400-meter dash | Final | 1:45 PM |
| Finalist TBD | 800-meter run | Final | 2:08 PM |
| Foster, Chloe | 400-meter hurdles | Final | 2:28 PM |
| Anne Forsyth | 5,000-meter run | Final | 3:11 PM |
| Kathryn House | 5,000-meter run | Final | 3:11 PM |
| Jessi Larson | 5,000-meter run | Final | 3:11 PM |
| Jena Metwalli | 5,000-meter run | Final | 3:11 PM |
| 4x400 Relay | 4x400 relay | Final | 3:45 PM |
Players Mentioned
