Young Wolverines to Compete at USATF U20 Championships
6/20/2019 8:35:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A group of five first-year collegians from the University of Michigan track and field team is set to compete against the nation's best young athletes at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships on Friday and Saturday (June 21-22) in Mirimar, Florida.
Big Ten outdoor pole vault silver medalist Jessica Mercier headlines the group of four Wolverine women and one Michigan man in action in Florida with berths to international competition on the line.
Mercier is joined by distance runners Jessi Larson (5,000 meters) and Megan Worrel (3,000-meter steeplechase) and thrower Amanda Schaare (shot put). Representing the Michigan men is hurdler Job Mayhue (110-meter hurdles).
Those five will be vying to earn spots on Team USA's roster for the Pan-American U20 Championships to be held July 19-21 in San Jose, Costa Rica. The top two finishers in each event are guaranteed spots on the roster, though third-place finishers and lower could make the team if berths are declined.
The meet is being streamed live online on the USATF.tv Plus subscription service.
Larson will compete first as Michigan's only entrant on Friday, running the 5,000-meter final at 7 p.m. This will be Larson's first race since finishing as the first woman out of qualifying for the NCAA Championships with a 13th-place finish at the NCAA East Preliminaries in May. She has a best of 16:23.75.
Saturday features the remaining four Wolverines, starting with Mercier at 12:45 p.m. Mercier was Michigan's top finisher at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships as she took the silver with a career-best clearance of 4.17m (13 feet, 8.25 inches).
Mayhue is in action next at 3:18 p.m. for the first of potentially two rounds in the 110-meter hurdles. Should he qualify from the afternoon preliminaries, he would race again in the final at 6:28 p.m. Mayhue has excelled at making finals in his first year at Michigan, making both the indoor 60-meter hurdles and outdoor 110-meter hurdles finals at the Big Ten Championships.
Just before Mayhue's potential final is Schaare in the shot put at 6:15 p.m. Saturday will mark her first action in a Michigan uniform. Redshirted for all of 2019, Schaare threw 14.60m (47-10.75) at the Len Paddock Open in May.
Worrel wraps up the weekend for the Wolverines in the steeplechase at 6:35 p.m. Competing in her first season of steeplechasing, Worrel was ninth at Big Tens in May and qualified for the NCAA East Preliminaries.
Players Mentioned
