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Thursday, July 6, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
By BETELHEM ASHAME
Managing Sports Editor
Less than nine weeks before
the start of the 2017-18 season, the
Michigan football team has lost one
of its top incoming freshmen.
Corey Malone-Hatcher, a for-
mer four-star defensive end from
Saint Joseph’s High School (Mich.),
announced on Twitter on Tuesday
that he is retiring from football.
Malone-Hatcher, who enrolled
early at the University in January,
cited lingering issues from an Achil-
les injury he suffered in 2015 as the
reason for the premature end to his
playing career.
“After a surgical repair and thou-
sands of hours of rehab, my Achil-
les has not been recovering how
it should be and is many months
behind where it should be at this
point in time,” Malone-Hatcher said
via Twitter. “After discussions with
the training staff and team doctor, it
was collectively decided that I will
take a medical disqualification.”
Malone-Hatcher said that he will
remain on scholarship as a student
at the University, in accordance
with NCAA guidelines for medi-
cal exemptions, though he will not
have the opportunity to suit up for
the Wolverines.
Malone-Hatcher was one of
19 of Michigan’s incoming fresh-
men ranked in the ESPN 300, with
a ranking of 270. He was the top
defensive end in the state of Michi-
gan this year, as well as the No. 19
overall player at his position, also
based off of the ESPN 300.
“I apologize to (Michigan coach
Jim) Harbaugh and (defensive line
coach Greg Mattison) as I know the
expectation was for me to be able
to come in and have an immediate
impact. Nobody is more disappoint-
ed than myself,” Malone-Hatcher
said. “I came to the University
of Michigan to be turned into an
excellent football player, excellent
student, and most importantly, a
Michigan Man.
“Sadly, my football career is over.
I will continue in my pursuit the
other two key points and let God
take the wheel. Thank you to the
Michigan fans who have support-
ed me throughout my high school
career.”
MELANIE MAXWELL/MLive
Corey Malone-Hatcher announced his retirement from football Tuesday.
Malone-Hatcher retires
Michigan women’s track and field introduces recruiting class
By JACOB SHAMES
Summer Managing Sports Editor
Wednesday,
the
Michigan
women’s track and field program
announced its recruiting class for
the 2018 season.
The 20-member class includes
11 athletes from Michigan, and
eight states in total are repre-
sented in the class. The group is
heaviest on mid-distance athletes
with 10, while
also containing
seven sprinters/
hurdlers.
“It’s exciting
to see such a
large class, such
a balanced class
and such a high-
quality class in
terms of both
academics
and
athletics,” said
coach James Henry. “I believe
many of these student-athletes
should help us immediately head-
ing into the next season.”
While the vast majority of the
class is made up of high-school-
ers, the Wolverines will add two
transfers with Division I expe-
rience in sophomore Margaret
Sliney and junior Audrey Belf.
Belf originally committed to
Georgetown in 2015 after an illus-
trious high school career at Bir-
mingham Seaholm. As a senior,
she won the 3,200 meter state
championship, and won state
cross
country
championships
in 2013 and 2014. She currently
ranks second all-time in Michi-
gan high school
history in both
the 3,200 and
5,000 meters, as
well as fifth in
the 1,600. With
the Hoyas, Belf
finished
third
at the Big East
Indoor
Cham-
pionships
her
freshman year.
Sliney,
a
transfer from Bucknell, was a
state champion in the 400 meters
as a senior at Mary Institute
and St. Louis Country Day High
School in Missouri. She finished
fifth at the Patriot League Cham-
pionships her freshman year in
the indoor 500 meters, and will
compete in sprints and mid-dis-
tance events with the Wolverines.
Including
Belf
and
Sliney,
Michigan’s
recruiting
class
includes eight athletes who have
won individual state champion-
ships in high school: mid-dis-
tance runners Mallory Barrett
(Highland), Camille Davre (Mil-
waukee, Wisc.), Alice Hill (Ann
Arbor) and Emma Lane (Men-
tor, Ohio). and sprinter Michaiah
Thomas (Beverly Hills).
The Wolverines will also bring
in nine athletes who have compet-
ed at the prestigious New Balance
Nationals in track and field: Bar-
rett, Davre, Hill, Lane, sprinters
Chloe Foster (Ann Arbor), Lauren
Morgan (Washington, D.C.) and
Jenna Reid (Middletown, N.J.),
and mid-distance runners Alexis
Munley (Clarkston) and Jacalyn
Overdier (Ann Arbor).
Davre’s
accomplishments
headline Michigan’s incoming
class of high schoolers. At White-
fish Bay High School, she won a
whopping 10 state championships
in track, and never finished below
fourth place in cross country. As
a senior, Davre swept the 800,
1,600 and 3,200 meter races, and
she is also a two-time New Bal-
ance National Champion in the
800 meters with a personal best
of 2:09.22.
Barrett,
whose
sis-
ter Rachel is a
junior distance
runner for the
Wolverines,
won the 2017
state
champi-
onship in the
800 with a time
of 2:11.06, and
placed sixteenth at the New Bal-
ance Nationals shortly after. She
also finished in the top-20 at the
state cross country champion-
ships each of the last three sea-
sons.
Hill came in two places behind
Barrett in the 800 at the state
championships this year, after
she won the indoor state cham-
pionship and earned a runner-up
outdoor finish as a junior. Her
personal best of 2:09.09 is 11th-
best in Michigan high school his-
tory.
Lane
finished
second
and
third at the Ohio outdoor state
champions, and first and second
in indoor competition her junior
and senior seasons. She finished
third or higher
in every race as
a senior.
Thomas, who
won the Michi-
gan
Division
2
champion-
ship in the 100-
meter
hurdles
as a sophomore,
was
also
the
USATF
Michi-
gan Junior Olympics champion in
the 400-meter hurdles.
“They’re all outstanding stu-
dents who fit our academic pro-
file, and I felt we did a good job
of balancing the class, addressing
some event-area needs and solidi-
fying some areas that are already
strong,” said associate head coach
Mike McGuire. “We have a good
balance of people who we think
are motivated to succeed here
over the next few years both in
the classroom and in competi-
tion.”
“Many of these
student-athletes
should help us
immediately”
“We have a good
balance of people
motivated to
succeed here”