Michigan
NCAA East Preliminaries
NCAA Postseason Begins Thursday at East Prelims
5/21/2019 2:41:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
» The University of Michigan women's track and field team takes the first steps toward qualifying for nationals with the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds on Thursday through Saturday (May 23-25) in Jacksonville, Florida.
» Among those looking to earn the 12 national championships berths in each event are All-Americans Erin Finn, Claire Kieffer-Wright, Alice Hill, Chloe Foster, Aurora Rynda, Meg Darmofal and Camille Davre.
THIS WEEK
Thu-Sat., May 23-25 -- NCAA East Preliminary Rounds (Jacksonville, Fla./Hodges Stadium)
Meet Central
Thursday, May 23 -- Day 1, 3:30 p.m.
TV: FloTrack Pro | Live Results | Live Video
Friday, May 24 -- Day 2, noon
TV: FloTrack Pro | Live Results | Live Video
Saturday, May 25 -- Day 3, 6:30 p.m.
TV: FloTrack Pro | Live Results | Live Video
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- This weekend marks the beginning of the NCAA postseason with select members of the University of Michigan women's track and field team set to compete at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, Thursday through Friday (May 23-25), with berths to the national championships at stake.
All-Americans Erin Finn, Claire Kieffer-Wright, Alice Hill, Chloe Foster, Aurora Rynda, Meg Darmofal and Camille Davre lead a corps of 16 Wolverine women entries to Jacksonville, Florida, with the goal of performing well enough against the NCAA East Region's best to earn their way to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 5-8 in Austin, Texas.
This weekend's NCAA East Prelims serve as the opening rounds of the NCAA Championships, as do the NCAA West Prelims being conducted simultaneously in Sacramento, California. From each of the two regions, the top 12 in each of the 21 NCAA Championship events will punch their tickets to Austin for nationals.
The Wolverine women have entries in 10 of those 21 events, all of whom qualified for the East Prelims by virtue of being among the best 48 individuals who declared to compete in each event.
Prelims action for Michigan gets underway at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday (May 23) as two-time Big Ten champion high jumper Kieffer-Wright goes for her first-ever NCAA Outdoor Championships berth. Hammer throw competition with school record-holder Bailey Baker begins for her at around 4:50 p.m.
Notably, the high jump will continue only until a clear top 12 has been determined, a format shared by the pole vault. In the throws, each competitor will receive only three qualifying throws, with no final to be contested.
Qualifying rounds on the track begin Thursday evening for the Wolverines as Foster goes in the first round of the 400-meter hurdles at 4:30 p.m.; Darmofal and Micaela DeGenero run the first round of the 1,500 meters at 530 p.m.; and Rynda competes in the 800-meter first round at 8:10 p.m.
Those four will be looking to advance to quarterfinals later in the weekend, which is when NCAA Championships berths will be earned.
Closing out Thursday's schedule will be Finn and Raquel Powers in the semifinal round of the 10,000 meters at 9 p.m., with tickets to nationals on the line in that race.
Baker returns to action for the second time in the weekend on Friday when she competes in the discus at noon. Also in the field, true freshman Jessica Mercier contests the pole vault at 5 p.m.
Should Rynda and Foster advance past the first round of their respective 800-meter and 400-meter hurdles events, they would run for NCAA berths Friday at 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.
Friday's (May 24) schedule concludes with the 3,000-meter steeplechase quarterfinals, featuring Hill and Megan Worrel, with more bids to NCAAs on the line.
Saturday's (May 25) docket for Michigan is entirely on the track, and is all quarterfinals with trips to NCAAs up for grabs. First up would be Darmofal and DeGenero in the 1,500-meter quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m., should they advance past Thursday's first round. The weekend closes out with the quartet of cross country All-American Davre, Anne Forsyth, Kathryn House and Jessi Larson in the 5,000-meter semifinals at 8:05 p.m.
All three days of the meet will be webcast live on FloTrack's subscription streaming service. Live results will be available from NCAA.com and Flash Results, and updates throughout the weekend on Michigan competitors can be found on Michigan track and field's official Twitter account, @umichtrack.
The full schedule of competitors can be found below, followed by notes on Michigan's top student-athletes this weekend.
When to Watch the Wolverines
| Thursday (May 23) | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Claire Kieffer-Wright | High Jump | First Round* | 3:30 PM |
| Bailey Baker | Hammer Throw | First Round* | ~4:50 PM |
| Chloe Foster | 400-meter hurdles | First Round | 4:30 PM |
| Meg Darmofal | 1,500-meter run | First Round | 5:30 PM |
| Micaela DeGenero | 1,500-meter run | First Round | 5:30 PM |
| Aurora Rynda | 800-meter run | First Round | 8:10 PM |
| Erin Finn | 10,000-meter run | Semifinal* | 9:00 PM |
| Raquel Powers | 10,000-meter run | Semifinal* | 9:00 PM |
| Friday (May 24) | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Bailey Baker | Discus | First Round* | ~12:50 PM |
| Jessica Mercier | Pole Vault | First Round* | 5:00 PM |
| Aurora Rynda | 800-meter run | Quarterfinal* | 6:30 PM |
| Chloe Foster | 400-meter hurdles | Quarterfinal* | 7:00 PM |
| Alice Hill | Steeplechase | Quarterfinal* | 8:20 PM |
| Megan Worrel | Steeplechase | Quarterfinal* | 8:20 PM |
| Saturday (May 25) | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Meg Darmofal | 1,500-meter run | Quarterfinal* | 6:30 PM |
| Micaela DeGenero | 1,500-meter run | Quarterfinal* | 6:30 PM |
| Camille Davre | 5,000-meter run | Semifinal* | 8:05 PM |
| Anne Forsyth | 5,000-meter run | Semifinal* | 8:05 PM |
| Kathryn House | 5,000-meter run | Semifinal* | 8:05 PM |
| Jessi Larson | 5,000-meter run | Semifinal* | 8:05 PM |
* = NCAA Championships berths at stake
Italicized text denotes a round of competition for which Michigan student-athletes must first qualify for.
Wolverine Bites
• Hill is the top-ranked Wolverine in the East Region, coming in seeded No.7 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Most recently, Hill claimed the bronze medal in her first Big Ten Championships to kick off her first-ever postseason run in the steeplechase. She is hoping this run plays out in the same manner as her steeplechase debut last summer, when she concluded her season with a seventh-place finish at the IAAF World U20 Championships.
• While this marks Hill's first foray into NCAA individual qualifying, this weekend marks the start of the final individual NCAA journey for Finn, ranked No. 8 at 10,000 meters. On approximately two months of training, Finn ran a strong 33:23.17 for seventh at the Big Ten Championships two weekends ago. With another two weeks of preparation and fitness under her belt, she is looking to make one last run at what would be her 10th career All-America honor.
• In what was the breakthrough performance of the Big Ten Championships, the true freshman pole vaulter Mercier claimed the silver medal at the conference meet with a big new career-best of 4.17m (13 feet, 8.25 inches) for the No. 2 spot in school history. She enters tied for 14th in the field, right on the cusp of making it to NCAAs. All she needs to do is be among the last 12 women standing on Saturday.
• Also ranked top-20 in the East Region is the 400-meter hurdler Foster, at No. 18. Foster, fresh off of a sixth-place Big Ten Championships finish, is looking for her next big breakthrough. A bubble qualifier in the event last year, she is now seeded favorably to make a run at qualifying for nationals.
• Also seeded top-30 in the region are Rynda at No. 25 at 800 meters; both No. 25 DeGenero and No. 26 Darmofal at 1,500 meters; school record-holder Baker in the hammer throw at No. 27; and No. 30 House at 5,000 meters.
Players Mentioned
