11

Thursday, June 2, 2016

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS

Five Wolverines qualify at 
NCAA Outdoor East Prelim

They will head to 
Eugene, Ore., for 
the NCAA Outdoor 

Championships

By MATTHEW KENNEDY

Daily Sports Writer

Competing for the first time 

since 
winning 
the 
Big 
Ten 

Outdoor 
Championship, 
the 

Michigan women’s track and 
field team had a simple goal in 
mind: get as many athletes to the 
NCAA Outdoor Championships 
as possible.

So 
when 
the 
Wolverines 

opened competition at the NCAA 
Outdoor East Preliminary in 
Jacksonville, Fla., on Friday, they 
did just that with five athletes 
qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor 
Championships in Eugene, Ore., 
on June 9.

In 
the 
10,000-meter 
run, 

redshirt sophomore Gina Sereno 
— who won the Big Ten Outdoor 
Championship in the event two 
weeks ago — put up a fourth-
place 
finish 
overall, 
despite 

being the No. 22 seed, with a 
time of 34:24.10 to qualify for the 
NCAA Outdoor Championships 
next weekend. The qualifying 
process for the 10,000-meter run 
consisted of only one run with 
the top 12 runners advancing, 

thus not allowing much room for 
error.

The meet was different than 

most in that only a few athletes 
took part in it. Just 13 Michigan 
athletes traveled to and competed 
in the meet, which is just one-
fifth the size of when the entire 
team travels.

“It’s a lot different,” said 

Michigan coach James Henry. 
“It’s not a lot of athletes, so you 
don’t feel that team camaraderie, 
and our team and athletes are not 
in every single event. It’s more of 
an individual thing, but we had 
a large enough group of ladies 
there to feel as much a team as 
possible.”

The Wolverines had a quiet 

Friday 
with 
most 
Michigan 

runners taking part in heats. 
The busiest event on the day was 
the 3,000-meter steeplechase, 
in which the top 12 times 
advanced to Eugene. Sophomore 
Claire 
Borchers 
very 
nearly 

qualified for the NCAA Outdoor 
Championships, but finished in 
13th with a time of 10:08.47 — 
0.6 seconds out of advancing. 
Redshirt 
Sophomore 
Sarah 

Zieve 
and 
fifth-year 
Senior 

Anna Pasternak also took part 
in the event, with Zieve setting a 
personal best time.

The next day was completely 

different, 
though, 
with 
four 

Wolverines advancing to the 
Eugene.

In 
the 
100-meter 
hurdle, 

senior Cindy Ofili — who holds 
the eighth-fastest time in the 
world in that event — won her 
heat with a time of 12.86 seconds 
to automatically qualify for the 
NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Arguably the best event of the 

weekend for Michigan came in 
the 1,500-meter run with three 
athletes competing, including 
redshirt senior Shannon Osika, 
a Big Ten Outdoor champion. 
Competing alongside her in the 
same heat was fifth-year senior 
Devon Hoppe, and in a different 
heat junior Jaimie Phelan. All 
three runners finished in the 
top five of their respective heats, 
which gave them all automatic 
bids to Eugene.

“I was fortunate enough to 

have Jaimie and Shannon to be 
able to do everything with – to 
warm up with, cool down with, 
do all of our runs with,” Hoppe 
said. “Even though it’s very 
individually focused, we have 
to do what we can to make sure 
that we all feel supportive as 
well.”

The 
five 
Wolverines 

qualifying for the championship 
meet is the most since 2009, 
and with Michigan’s goal of 
getting as many athletes to the 
championship as possible now 
over, the runners can set a new 
goal to focus on: outrun their 
competitors.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Redshirt senior Shannon Osika received an automatic bid to NCAAs for her performance in the 1,500-meter run.

Six clinch spots for 

NCAA Championships

By MIKE PERSAK

Daily Sports Writer

The Michigan men’s track and 

field team has steadily improved 
under the tenure of coach Jerry 
Clayton. This weekend at the 
NCAA Preliminary Rounds was 
no different, as the Wolverines 
had six athletes qualify for the 
NCAA Outdoor Championships 
— the most since Clayton has 
taken over.

Redshirt freshman thrower 

Joe Ellis was the first person 
to secure his spot for Michigan 
on Thursday, which he did on 
his final attempt in the hammer 
throw. Ellis unleashed a throw 
of 68.25 meters, which not only 
gave him a fourth-place finish 
in the meet, 
but also set 
a new school 
record 
for 
the 

Wolverines.

Ellis 

wasn’t 
the 
only 

freshman to 
move on for 
Michigan. Freshman sprinter 
Taylor McLaughlin clinched his 
own spot at the NCAA Outdoor 
Championships on Thursday in 
the 400-meter hurdles, making 
him the first true freshman 
Wolverine to do so in the last 11 
years. McLaughlin finished with 
a time of 49.84 seconds, good 
enough for a fifth-place finish 
overall.

Though Ellis and McLaughlin 

weren’t the only ones to have 
success this weekend, their 
contributions as freshmen give 
Michigan bright hope for its 
future, and Clayton and his staff 
hope to use their experiences as 
references for future freshmen. 

“Hopefully, in the future, 

we’ll be able to bring in this 
level of freshmen and they’ll be 
able to make that transition,” 
Clayton said. “Or we’ll bring 
some people in and redshirt 
them the first year (like Ellis) to 
help them grow in that respect 
as well.”

Redshirt 
sophomore 
Ben 

Flanagan 
qualified 
for 
the 

NCAA Outdoor Championships 
as well in the 10,000-meter 
event. Flanagan finished in 

sixth-place at the meet with 
a time of 30:04.60 in an event 
that was extremely competitive 
throughout. 
Though 
most 

10,000-meter 
runs 
tend 
to 

finish with a large amount 
of separation in between the 
runners, this particular race 
finished with just 2.84 seconds 
separating the winner from the 
12th-placed finisher.

The Wolverines’ other three 

qualifiers for the national meet 
are redshirt junior decathlete 
Steven Bastien in the decathlon, 
fifth-year 
senior 
distance 

runner Mason Ferlic in the 
3,000-meter steeplechase and 
redshirt junior distance runner 
Tony Smoragiewicz.

All six athletes representing 

Michigan in the 
NCAA Outdoor 
Championships 
will now turn 
to preparation 
for the next two 
weeks. But for 
the Wolverines, 
that 
doesn’t 

necessarily 
mean 
that 

anything will change.

“At this point in the season, 

I think consistency is most 
important, 
because 
you’re 

going in to new experiences,” 
Flanagan said. “For example, 
we have a lot of guys going to 
nationals for the first time. 
It can be challenging (not) to 
attempt try to try different 
things and feel like you have to 
put maximum energy into this 
week. But it’s really important to 
stay grounded and realize that 
everything we’ve done up to this 
point is the reason we’ve been so 
successful this season, and you 
really want to stick to that type 
of routine.”

The 
NCAA 
Outdoor 

Championships will not only 
serve as the ultimate measuring 
stick for Michigan’s qualifiers, 
but it will also serve as a building 
block for the future.

“If you can get an athlete 

to the national level in their 
freshman or sophomore year, 
it’s a tremendous advantage for 
them, especially going into their 
later years,” Clayton said. “Of 
course, that’s what we want to 
do, is build the program.”

“At this point, 
consistency is 

most important.”

