Phelan wins national championship

Last November at the NCAA 

Cross Country Championships, 
Michigan’s Jaimie Phelan was 
barely edged at the finish line by 
Oregon’s 
Maggie 
Schmaedick, 

who claimed 64th place by 0.1 
seconds 
over 
the 
Wolverine 

junior.

Neither runner had any way 

of knowing it as they crossed the 
line, but that tenth-of-a-second 
difference between Schmaedick 
and Phelan gave the Ducks the 
team title, with a score of 125 
points to Michigan’s 126.

Fast forward to the 1,500-

meter run at the NCAA Outdoor 
Track and Field Championships 
in Eugene, Ore. last Saturday. 
With one lap to go, Phelan sat in 
last place — not exactly a desirable 
position 
when 
taken 
out 
of 

context. But with such a tight lead 
pack — just .68 seconds separated 
her from the front — she knew she 
was far from out of it.

“It was a pretty tight pack, 

and at that point I just knew that 
I have to get out,” Phelan said. 
“Once I got out then I saw a clear 
path and just decided to go with 
it.”

Seeing her opportunity, Phelan 

shot all the way into the lead on 
the backstretch. She maintained 
this slim advantage into the final 
100 meters, even as Arkansas’s 
Nikki Hiltz closed quickly behind 
her.

“I know as soon as I started 

feeling 
someone 

on my shoulder I 
just wanted to dig 
a little bit deeper 
and keep the legs 
rolling and finish 
stronger,” Phelan 
said.

She 
did 
just 

that — and this 
time, 
Phelan 

was on the right 
side 
of 
another 

impossibly 
close 

finish.

Two-hundredths of a second — 

the second-narrowest margin of 
victory in NCAA championship 
history.

With a time of 4:13.78, the 

junior from Kitchener, Ontario 
became the Michigan women’s 
track and field team’s first-ever 
national champion in the 1,500 
meters.

“Definitely took a moment (to 

realize),” Phelan said. “I wasn’t 
quite sure — I looked over and 
I saw Nikki Hiltz and a couple 
girls out of the corner of my eye to 
the right. Once I looked up to the 
screen, then I knew and it kind 
of sunk in a little bit, but it’s still 
somewhere in disbelief.”

Phelan earned All-American 

honors in the 1,500 last year with 
her eighth-place finish and won 
the Big Ten championship in that 
event last month. 
But 
with 
three 

former 
national 

champions 
in 

Saturday’s 
final 

field, she wasn’t 
exactly among the 
biggest 
favorites 

to win.

However, 

Phelan knew that 
depending 
on 

how the race was 
run, she’d have a chance. She 
would likely have a tougher time 
contending if the pace at first 
was quick — her personal best 
is slower than all but two of her 
opponents — but a steady, tactical 
race would play right into her 
hands and allow her to use the 
speed she had developed from the 
800-meter training of her youth.

Phelan had already utilized 

this “sit-and-kick” strategy at the 
Big Ten Championships. After 
the first 1,100 meters were run 
at around 70 seconds per lap, she 
covered the last 400 meters in 
62 seconds to pull away and win 

the title. However, 
she expected that 
Saturday’s 
race 

would start out 
faster, making this 
strategy tougher.

“I was definitely 

expecting it to go 
out really fast. I 
was ready for a 
fast race,” Phelan 
said. “(Saturday), 
it 
just 
seemed 

more tactical. It 

was anyone’s race.”

So when the field cruised 

through the first 700 meters at 
a controlled pace of just over 
two minutes, Phelan was able to 
remain mostly calm and composed 
despite running at the back of the 
pack for much of the race.

“Going into the race I think 

with the speed in the last 200 and 
the last lap I really like to give it 

everything and just focus on those 
gear changes,” Phelan said. “I’m 
always ready for anything in a 
race, but (a tactical race) definitely 
plays into my favor more.”

Phelan’s tactics were executed 

to perfection. As the bell rang, 
signifying the final lap, it was 
clear that the race would come 
down to a test of speed.

And here, no one could match 

Phelan. She ran the last 400 
meters in a blazing 1:01.62 — 

even faster than 
at the Big Ten 
championships, 
and tops in the 
field by over half a 
second.

Phelan’s victory 

marked the fifth 
year in a row that 
the 
Wolverines 

have had an All-
American in the 
1,500 meters — the 

longest such streak in the country. 
Not only is she now a back-to-back 
All-American, but she also follows 
in the footsteps of previous 
teammates and past Michigan 
greats such as Shannon Osika and 
fellow Canadian Nicole Sifuentes.

Phelan 
praised 
both 
Osika 

and Sifuentes after the race, 
along with assistant coach Mike 
McGuire for his work with the 
Wolverines’ distance corps.

“Ever since freshman year for 

me coming into Michigan I’ve 
had some unbelievable training 
partners,” Phelan said. “Shannon 
Osika last year coming in 4th in 
the NCAA 1,500 — she’s been an 
unbelievable role model for me as 
well as Nicole Sifuentes. Nicole’s 
also Canadian so she’s always 
been a role model for me growing 
up. Just seeing how hard they 
work and having them by all of our 
team’s sides just helps enormously 
to keep us all together.”

And 
Saturday, 
Phelan 

accomplished 
something 
that 

neither Osika or Sifuentes — or 
any other 1,500-meter runner 
in Wolverine history — had ever 
done.

She 
became 
a 
national 

champion.

“I’m beyond grateful for all 

the support I’ve had at Michigan 
and with my friends all over and 
the messages that I’ve gotten 
this 
weekend 
and 
this 
past 

year and through all my time at 
Michigan,” Phelan said. “It’s been 
unbelievable.”

JACOB SHAMES

Summer Managing Sports Editor

“I saw a clear 
path and just 
decided to go 

with it”

“It just seemed 
more tactical. 
It was anyone’s 

race.”

MARINA ROSS/Daily

Junior Jaimie Phelan won the national championship in the 1,500 meters Saturday.

12

Thursday, June 15, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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