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Meier Punches Ticket to NCAAs on Final Day of East Prelims Kyle Terwillegar
Continuing
an ongoing legacy of mid-distance greatness by the University of
Michigan women's track and field team, Haley Meier advanced out of her
rain-soaked NCAA East Preliminaries quarterfinal on Saturday (May 26)
to earn the right to represent the Wolverines at nationals.
Meier,
an indoor second team All-American and Big Ten champion in the mile
this winter, will compete in the outdoor-equivalent 1,500-meter event
at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on June 6-9 after
earning an automatic berth with a fourth-place finish in her heat.
Meier
joins steeplechase teammates Claire Borchers and Sarah Zieve as
Michigan's delegation to the NCAA meet in a week-and-a-half's time.
Consistency
was the key for Meier in her run to the national meet. While at no time
was she closer to the front than third-place, she also did not drift
back any farther than fifth place in a race in which only five women
were guaranteed berths to nationals.
She and teammate Jamie
Morrissey went to the front early, running third and second,
respectively, as they came through the first 300 meters of the race.
With two laps to go, Meier and Morrissey were still near the front of a
pack that had whittled down to nine runners.
Morrissey, reigning
NCAA indoor mile champion Elinor Purrier of New Hampshire and reigning
Big Ten 1,500-meter winner Danae Rivers of Penn State separated from
the pack with a lap to go, while Meier was in the midst of a four-woman
chase pack just over a second behind.
Meier was able to sustain
her position over the final 400 meters, moving up a spot as Morrissey
was unable to keep up with the ratcheted-down pace set by Purrier and
Rivers up front to fade back to eighth over the final 200 meters.
Morrissey
would ultimately cross the line in 4:23.83 for eighth in the heat and
16th overall, concluding her Michigan career as a Big Ten champion at
800 meters two weekends ago and the third-fastest woman in school
history at 1,500 meters.
In Michigan's only other action on the
final day, hammer thrower Courtney Jacobsen was 21st overall -- a
10-spot improvement on her pre-meet seed -- with a mark of 59.19m (194
feet, 2 inches).
After opening with a 59.13m (194-0) on her
first attempt, she added another six centimeters on her second attempt
but could not improve on her third with a mark of 58.00m (190-3).
While
her best mark Saturday was not enough to make it to Eugene, it would
have been in any other year of the East Prelims (established in 2010)
other than 2014. It took 60.42m (198-3) to make the 12-woman cut for
the national meet, nearly two-thirds of a meter farther than the
last-mark-in, in any of the previous eight editions of the East Prelims.
She
was one of nine women who surpassed 59 meters on the day, but were not
rewarded with a trip to NCAAs. Her mark was the best at the East
Prelims for a woman who finished outside the top-20.
FULL MICHIGAN RESULTS BY EVENT
Q = Automatically advanced to NCAA East Prelims quarterfinals
q = Non-automatic qualifier to NCAA East Prelims quarterfinals
w = wind-aided (greater than 2.0 meter-per-second [m/s] wind)
200 Meters (First Round) [Friday]
27. Jade Harrison / 23.18w (+4.8m/s)
400 Meters (First Round) [Thursday]
38. Jade Harrison / 53.93
1,500 Meters (Quarterfinals)
6. Haley Meier / 4:15.47 (Advanced to NCAA Championships)
16. Jamie Morrissey / 4:23.83
2. Haley Meier / 4:16.82Q (Thursday, first round)
19. Jamie Morrissey / 4:20.21Q (Thursday, first round)
31. Hannah Meier / 4:23.87 (Thursday, first round)
10,000 Meters (Semifinals) [Thursday]
28. Madeline Trevisan / 35:37.91
400-Meter Hurdles (First Round) [Thursday]
39. Chloe Foster / 60.11
3,000-Meter Steeplechase (Quarterfinals) [Friday]
6. Claire Borchers / 9:58.57 (Advanced to NCAA Championships)
13. Sarah Zieve / 10:07.58 (Advanced to NCAA Championships)
High Jump (First Round) [Thursday]
27. Katt Miner / 1.70m (5-7)
45. Aaron Howell / 1.65m (5-5)
Hammer Throw (First Round)
21. Courtney Jacobsen / 59.19m (194-2)
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