Michigan
B1G Indiana Invitational #2
Rynda, Manson Win at B1G Indiana Invitational #2
4/9/2021 11:32:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex)
Event: B1G Indiana Invitational #2
U-M Result: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sat., April 16-17 -- B1G Indiana Invitational #3 (Bloomington, Ind.), B1G Texas Invitational (Prairie View, Texas)
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Led by event winners Aurora Rynda and Mia Manson, the University of Michigan women's track and field team competed at the B1G Indiana Invitational #2 on Friday (April 9) on an evening interrupted by multiple weather delays.
Rynda continued her successful return to competition with a win and a new personal best at 800 meters, while Manson and Jessica Mercier went 1-2 in the pole vault.
Rynda clocked a career-best 2:05.15 over the course of two laps around the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex, winning over Wisconsin's Madison Mooney by just shy of two full seconds.
The performance cemented her as a threat for the conference title, coming within .01 seconds of the 2021 Big Ten outdoor lead held by multiple-time champion Danae Rivers of Penn State. It also was fast enough to move her up a spot to No. 9 in school history, and only four other Wolverine women have ever run faster in the month of April.
At the national level, the performance likely will be enough to earn her a trip to the NCAA East Preliminaries next month, which is the first step on the road to June's NCAA Outdoor Championships at the renovated Hayward Field in Oregon.
True first-year collegian Ziyah Holman also impressed at the 800-meter distance, as the reigning Big Ten Indoor 400-meter champion chopped two seconds off her personal best with a 2:11.11 for 10th.
Manson, also a first-year collegian, emerged from a tightly contested pole vault competition. She cleared a best height of 3.90m (12 feet, 9.5 inches) before the competition was suspended due to lightning in the area, separating her from Mercier and nine other women who cleared 3.75m (12-3.75) on the night. It was high enough to vault her from No. 7 in outdoor school history to No. 4, a position she shares with Sarah Uhlian.
Holman's and Manson's fellow first-year Wolverine Hannah Waller continued to put together an impressive debut season in her own right as she took runner-up at 200 meters in 24.45 (-0.2m/s) and followed up, after a lightning delay, with another runner-up finish in the triple jump at 12.02m (39-5.25) (+0.0m/s).
Though not a true first-year collegian, All-American Ericka VanderLende made her U-M outdoor debut after last spring was scrubbed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Also on the other side of the first of two weather delays, she clocked 4:22.13 for seventh at 1,500 meters, leading a group of seven Wolverines in the top 15.
Also finishing top-10 were ninth-place Lucy Petee in 4:23.56 and 10th-place Katelynne Hart in 4:23.90 -- both of whom are also in their first outdoor seasons at Michigan. All-Americans Alice Hill and Meg Darmofal were 13th and 14th, respectively.
Weather delays derailed a plan for most of the women who ran the 1,500 meters to double back for the meet-finale 3,000-meter run. That range, sans Wolverines, was run just before 1 a.m. ET.
Next weekend will be the first split-squad competition of the outdoor season as the sprinters and field-event athletes head to the B1G Texas Invitational in Prairie View while the distance crew returns to Bloomington for the B1G Indiana Invitational #3. Both meets will be held Friday and Saturday (April 16-17).
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to final; q = at-large qualifier to final
200 meter dash
Final
2. Hannah Waller / 24.45 (-0.2m/s)
6. Paige Chapman / 25.72 (-0.4m/s) [New PR]
7. Simone Roberts / 25.88 (-0.4m/s)
400 meter dash
Final
7. Simone Roberts / 60.02 [New PR]
800 meter run
Final
1. Aurora Rynda / 2:05.15 [New PR]
10. Ziyah Holman / 2:11.11 [New PR]
1,500 meter run
Final
7. Ericka VanderLende / 4:22.13
9. Lucy Petee / 4:23.56 [New PR]
10. Katelynne Hart / 4:23.90
11. Samantha Tran / 4:24.77
12. Jena Metwalli / 4:24.86 [New PR]
13. Alice Hill / 4:24.88
14. Meg Darmofal / 4:25.43
25. Eva Jansohn / 4:30.82 [New PR]
28. Julia Vanitvelt / 4:33.56 [New PR]
35. Annie Taylor / 4:36.07
52. Julia Sullivan / 4:53.88
100 meter hurdles
Final
6. Paige Chapman / 14.67 (-0.1m/s)
400 meter hurdles
Final
3. Lauren Fulcher / 62.91
Pole Vault
Final
1. Mia Manson / 3.90m (12-9.5) [New PR]
2. Jessica Mercier / 3.75m (12-3.75)
11. Morgan Flynn / 3.60m (11-9.75) [New PR]
--. Cate Visscher / No Height
Triple Jump
Final
2. Hannah Waller / 12.02m (39-5.25) (+0.0m/s)
Players Mentioned
