Michigan
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Michigan Earns Relay Title, Two School Records on Day One of Big Tens
2/28/2020 8:15:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Site: Geneva, Ohio (SPIRE Institute)
Event: Big Ten Indoor Championships (day 1 of 2)
U-M Result: 5th of 12 teams (21 points)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 28 -- at Big Ten Indoor Championships - Day 2 (Geneva, Ohio), 11 a.m.
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
GENEVA, Ohio -- The University of Michigan women's track and field team burst out of the gate on the first day of the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Friday (Feb. 28) with a distance medley relay title, two school records and a majority of its track entrants advancing to finals.
The quartet of Alice Hill, Chloe Foster, Aurora Rynda and Meg Darmofal combined to win Michigan's 14th title in the distance medley relay since 2003, reclaiming the crown in a head-to-head battle with last year's winner, Michigan State.
Individually, the Wolverines got school records from Rynda at 600 meters and Briana Nelson in the weight throw, the latter as part of a fourth- and fifth-place overperformances by Nelson and Courtney Jacobsen.
Between the relay, the weight throwers and Kathryn House's seventh-place finish at 3,000 meters, Michigan ended the first day with 21 points and in fifth place with six of 18 events scored. Minnesota leads the team standings with 39 points.
Rynda, meanwhile, was among the nine Michigan women who advanced from Friday's preliminaries to Saturday's finals out of 16 total chances. She and Foster will be top seeds in their respective 600- and 400-meter events.
Already with sufficient motivation in the distance medley relay as the Wolverines chased both the Big Ten title and an improvement on their season-best time to qualify for nationals, the race presented another motivator as in-state rival Michigan State emerged as Michigan's closest competitor.
Hill ran a strong opening 1,200-meter leg, surging at the end to hand off to Foster with a lead. Foster, who ran an personal-best earlier in the day at 400 meters, only expanded the Wolverines' lead as she passed off the baton to Rynda for the 800-meter leg.
The Spartans started to reel in Rynda by the end of her leg, and by the time Darmofal got the stick for her anchor 1,600-meter run, Michigan State had pulled to within a few meters.
Darmofal ran steady throughout her race, waiting for her time to make a move even as MSU's anchor, Lindsey Rudden, passed her for the lead on the penultimate lap. Darmofal's patience paid off as she shifted into another gear as the bell rung for the last lap and she reclaimed the lead. Though she put a bit of distance between herself and Rudden, the race was not truly in hand until the closing meters on the homestretch.
Darmofal crossed the line victorious with hands raised in the air, and immediately ran to the stands in search of her cheering teammates in the stands. Hill, Rynda and Foster ran over and joined in the celebration not too long after.
Michigan's time of 11:02.00 was a near four-second improvement on their time from last weekend, putting them in much better position to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in two weekends' time.
Nelson and Jacobsen got the Wolverines on the board first as the two best weight throwers in school history put together the best combination of throws in school history.
Jacobsen established her spot in the nine-woman final with a 20.16m (66 feet, 1.75 inches) in the second round -- just one centimeter shy of her pre-meet school record -- but Nelson left her status in the final up in the air for much longer. Sitting outside the top nine with only one attempt remaining in the trials, Nelson let loose her school-record 20.21m (66-3.75) to clinch her spot at the last minute.
Entering the finals in third and fourth position, Nelson and Jacobsen did not improve in their final three throws, but only one other competitor was able to slide up past them. Between the two, they netted nine points for Michigan; they entered projected to get one between the two.
Rounding out the scorers on the track was House, who ran with the leaders throughout the race and was rewarded with a seventh-place finish in 9:34.59. The performance was good for two team points for Michigan, and was her first-ever scoring performance in a Big Ten meet on the track. It followed up on a 2019 cross country season in which she was All-Big Ten and All-Region.
Nelson's record in the field was followed closely on the track by Rynda's run to the top of the record books at 600 meters. In leading off her bid to defend her 2019 title in the event, Rynda clocked a blistering 1:28.16, about 0.14 seconds superior to four-time 600-meter winner Katie Erdman from 2007.
Rynda was unassuming on the first of two laps around the oversized 300-meter track, crossing the line with a lap to go third among a lead group of three. She turned on the jets on the second time around, putting almost a full second on third-seeded Val Larson of Minnesota over the course of the final 300 meters.
She will be joined as a top seed in Saturday's final by distance medley relay teammate Foster, who led wire-to-wire and ran a personal-best 54.04 for the best time of anyone in the qualifying round. Foster will be joined in the final by Jade Harrison, who bookended the qualifying roster with the eighth and final berth in 54.73.
The Wolverines will have three women vying for points in the mile as Rynda and Foster's distance medley relay teammates Darmofal and Hill nabbed the third- and fourth-best qualifying times to return to the final for the second year in a row. They will be joined by first-time finalist Jena Metwalli, whose sprint to the finish in the first heat made the difference between fourth in the race to qualify for the final and fifth to miss the final. Overall she placed eighth.
Hill was an automatic qualifier in that same heat, finishing in 4:49.48 to Metwalli's 4:49.86. Darmofal was the runner-up in her heat, crossing the line in 4:44.74.
Michigan also got multiple entries into the final at the 800-meter distance, where newcomers Annie Taylor and Amber Gall made it into Saturday's eight-woman race. Taylor, a graduate transfer from Cornell, earned an automatic berth and ranked sixth in the prelims with her 2:08.37.
The first-year Gall clocked a career-best 2:08.73 for fourth in her heat, and needed every hundredth of that time to clinch her finals berth, and emerged with the last spot in the final by just 0.01 of a second.
The Wolverines also got a big personal record from Michaiah Thomas in the 60-meter hurdles as she clocked 8.46 to take eighth in her signature indoor event and advance to her first-ever Big Ten final.
In the field, Ameia Wilson and Jeryne Fish just missed out on scoring in the long jump as they finished ninth and 10th, respectively. Wilson made the final with a best of 5.75m (18-10.5), while Fish was the first woman out of the final at 5.73m (18-9.5).
Action at the Big Ten Indoor Championships will resume Saturday (Feb. 29) with field events starting at 11 a.m. and the track finals beginning at 1:20 p.m.
Michigan Collegiate Career-Best Performances
Career debuts not included
Chloe Foster -- 54.04 / 400m (I)
Amber Gall -- 2:08.73 / 800m (I)
Kathryn House -- 9:34.59 / 3,000m (I)
Eva Jansohn -- 2:10.69 / 800m (I)
Briana Nelson -- 20.21m (66-3.75) / Weight Throw (I)
Aurora Rynda -- 1:28.16 / 600m (I)
Samantha Saenz -- 9:47.53 / 3,000m (I)
Michaiah Thomas -- 8.46 / 60m Hurdles (I)
Julia Vanitvelt -- 9:43.57 / 3,000m (I)
Ameia Wilson -- 7.58 / 60m (I)
Ameia Wilson -- 5.75m (18-10.5) / Long Jump (I)
Michigan Results by Event
Q = Automatic qualifier into final based on place; q = non-automatic qualifier into final based on time
60 Meters
Prelims
17. Ameia Wilson / 7.58
200 Meters
Prelims
16. Jade Harrison / 24.38
400 Meters
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
1. Chloe Foster / 54.04q
8. Jade Harrison / 54.71q
15. Emma Lane / 55.51
600 Meters
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
1. Aurora Rynda / 1:28.16Q [SCHOOL RECORD]
10. Julia Hall / 1:31.12
800 Meters
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
6. Annie Taylor / 2:08.37Q
8. Amber Gall / 2:08.73q
11. Eva Jansohn / 2:10.69
20. Julia Sullivan / 2:14.35
Mile
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
3. Meg Darmofal / 4:44.74Q
4. Alice Hill / 4:49.48Q
8. Jena Metwalli / 4:49.86Q
3,000 Meters
7. Kathryn House / 9:34.59
10. Julia Vanitvelt / 9:43.57
12. Emma Sloan / 9:46.43
13. Samantha Saenz / 9:47.53
5,000 Meters
Final to be contested Saturday
60-Meter Hurdles
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
8. Michaiah Thomas / 8.46q
19. Paige Chapman / 8.83
4x400 Relay
To be contested Saturday
Distance Medley Relay
1. Hill, Foster, Rynda, Darmofal / 11:02.00
High Jump
To be contested Saturday
Long Jump
9. Ameia Wilson / 5.75m (18-10.5)
10. Jeryne Fish / 5.73m (18-9.5)
Triple Jump
To be contested Saturday
Shot Put
To be contested Saturday
Weight Throw
4. Courtney Jacobsen / 20.16m (66-1.75) [SCHOOL RECORD]
5. Briana Nelson / 20.21m (66-3.75)
Players Mentioned
