MICHIGAN ATHELTIC COMMUNICATIONS Chad Shepard | Men’s and Women’s 2016 MICHIGAN WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD Cross Country and Track and Field 734-386-0372 | phone [email protected] | MGoBlue.com QUICK HITS BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS -- Michigan is in the midst of its best season since 1998, the only other year with an indoor Big Ten title SITE: LINCOLN, NEBRASKA (ED WEIR STADIUM) and top-6 NCAA finish TV: BIG TEN NETWORK (AIRS 5/15 AT 6 PM CDT) STREAM: BTN2GO (AIRS 5/15 BEGINNING AT 1:40 PM CDT) -- The Wolverines seek a conference sweep for the first time since 2003. Michigan has accomplished the feat on four total occasions (1994, 1998, 2002) NOTES -- Cindy Ofili (100 meter hurdles) is the lone Wolverine The University of Michigan women’s track and field team is eager to begin defending her Big Ten Crown from the 2015 meet, competition at this week’s Outdoor Big Ten Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska while Shannon Osika (1,500; silver) and Sami Michell (May 13-15). The three-day meet will be competed at Ed Weir Stadium on the (400 hurdles; bronze) are also returning medalists campus of Nebraska, and will feature representatives from 13 Big Ten programs. This marks Nebraska’s first time hosting the Big Ten Outdoor Championships since -- Michigan returns nine athletes who scored at last joining the Big Ten Conference in 2011-12. year’s meet and 15 athletes who competed overall Events begin on Friday with the heptathlon, beginning at 12:15 p.m. CDT with the -- The Maize and Blue won five indoor titles in Febru- 100-meter hurdles. The 10K will close events, tentatively scheduled for an 8:15 ary (800, Mile, 3K, 5K, DMR) and totaled 109 points p.m. gun. Saturday, the heptathlon resumes with the long jump at 10:15 a.m., while the 3,000-meter steeplechase draws things to a close at 6:45 p.m. The final day -- Erin Finn (6x Big Ten Champion; 3 outdoor) is taking of action, Sunday, begins with the triple jump and discus at noon, but U-M’s day a redshirt this outdoor season to pursue Olympic goals will begin with the pole vault an hour later, and th 4x400-meter relay closes the and has hit the Olympic standard in the 5K and 10K weekend at 4:45 p.m. -- Finn’s time of 31:51.84 in the 10K set May 1 at Stan- After consecutive back-to-back indoor finishes, the Wolverines won their first Big ford is No. 6 all-time in NCAA history, No. 3 fastest by Ten title since the 2007 season, and their first indoor title since 2006 when the team an American collegian and fastest ever by a native totaled 109 points over two days in February at the SPIRE Facility in Geneva, Ohio. Michigander It’s been a busy outdoor season, but U-M is right back in the thick of things atop the Big Ten Conference, and hopes to earn its first conference sweep since 2003 this PROGRAM HISTORY weekend, sending the team’s eight competing seniors out on a high note. First Year ............................................................................ 1978 Big Ten Member .................................................................. 1978 Big Ten Team Titles ................................................................ 16 WOLVERINES AMONG THE BIG TEN’S BEST Big Ten Indiv. Titles �������������������������������������������������������������� 179 The Wolverines below are ranked top-5 in the Big Ten this year in their respective Big Ten Relay. Titles ............................................................... 15 events (all ranks according to TFRRS) NCAA Top 10 Finishes ............................................................... 9 NCAA Indiv. Titles ................................................................... 10 ATHLETE EVENT TIME/MARK RANK All-America Citations .............................................................. 179 Ofili 100m H 12.66 1 Pfeifer 800m 2:05.75 2 LAST 5 YEARS AT THE B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS Osika 1,500m 4:13.43 1 YEAR................................................. PLACE PTS. Phelan 4:19.48 2 2015................................................... 5th 80 Hoppe 4:20.12 2014................................................... t-4th 86 Pasternak 3K Steeple 10:20.53 4 2013................................................... 4th 82 Borchers 10:22.58 5 2012................................................... 7th 67 Kieffr-Wright High Jump 1.79m (5-10.5 ft.) t4 2011 ................................................... 10th 49 Howell Heptathlon 5,914 3 COACHING STAFF CAPPING A SPECIAL SEASON Head Coach ............................. James Henry (Sprints, Jumps) Michigan moves into the championship phase of the outdoor campaign on the Assoc. Head Coach ..................Mike McGuire (Mid-D/Distance) heels of its best indoor season since 2008, the best complete season in program Asst. Coach .......................................... Sandy Fowler (Throws) history. This winter, the Wolverines added a sixth-place NCAA finish to their first Vol. Asst. Coach ............................ Shean Conlon (Pole Vault) indoor Big Ten Championship since 2006. Michigan opened the outdoor season Vol. Asst. Coach ......................... Rebecca Addison (Distance) ranked No. 3 in the USTFCCCA’s Program of the Year race after adding the third- Vol. Asst. Coach ............................ Kristal McGregor (Throws) best nationals finish in program history to a sixth-place NCAA finish during the cross country season. Now, the Wolverines are pursuing their 17th Big Ten title, FOLLOW U-M TRACK & FIELD the eighth outdoor conference title in program history. Web: www.MGoBlue.com Twitter: @umichtrack Facebook: www.facebook.com/MichiganWomensTrack OFILI CONTINUES TO SHINE FOR WOLVERINES Indoor 60m Hurdles National Champion Cindy Ofili (7.89; tie-No. 6 all-time, NCAA) is enjoying a tremendous senior season that began last summer, when she was the silver medalist at the British Championships in the 100m Hurdles. Ofili went on to represent Team GB at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, and carried that momentum into her first NCAA title during the indoor season. When she won that title, she also broke her sister’s final remaining Michigan record, and now owns the program records at indoor 60m (7.37), indoor 60m hurdles (7.89), indoor 200 dash (23.65), outdoor 100 dash (11.39) and outdoor 100m hurdles (12.60). Ofili will seek to defend her 100-meter hurdles title from last spring, and hopes to top her 12-point contribution from 2015 by tripling in the 100, 200 and 100 hurdles this weekend. Ofili scored 20 points for U-M at the indoor championships, and has totaled106.5 Big Ten points in her career (39.5 outdoor) COACHING STAFF James Henry Mike McGuire Head Coach (32nd Season) Associate Head Coach (27th Season) Jumps, Sprints, Hurdles Mid-Distance, Distance Head Coach, Cross Country (24 years) Among the most decorated coaches in conference history with 12 Big Ten Widely recognized as one of the nation’s top Coach of the Year honors, U-M athle- minds in distance coaching, McGuire has had tees have totaled 178 NCAA All-America a hand in 14 of Michigan’s Big Ten champion- citations and 211 All-Big Ten honors ships, including both Triple Crowns in 1994 and in his tenure, winning 202 individual 2003. He has led U-M’s cross country team to conference titles 10 individual national nine Big Ten and regional titles, including five titles and four national championship straight from 2002-06, and was also named the relays. In the classroom, Wolverines USTFCCCA Track and Field Assistant Coach of have earned 424 Academic All-Big Ten honors, eight Big Ten Medals the Year for the women’s distance events in 2005 and 2007. of Honors, three NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships and 14 Capital One Academic All-America honors. In addition to four NCAA champions and four NCAA DMR crowns, he has manufactured 66 individual conference champions (35 indoor, 31 outdoor) He coached Cindy Ofili to this year’s indoor NCAA title in the 60-meter for 114 titles and 135 All-America honorees, including 112 in track and hurdles (7.89, No. 6 all-time, NCAA) and has helped Cindy Ofili break field. He has made U-M’s DMR a national standard of excellence, coach- all 5 of her sister’s records. Tiffany (Ofili) Porter, 5x NCAA Champion, ing the relay to 12 Big Ten Titles, including 11 straight from 2004-14. is among Henry’s notable alumni. Recently, 4 U-M athletes competed at the 2012 Olympic Trials, and 12 Wolverines competed at the 2008 McGuire has coached 11 Academic All-Americans, three collegiate record trials for their respective countries. holders and one American record holder. Notable alumni include two Olympians (Anna Willard, 2008, USA; Nicole (Edwards) Sifuentes, 2012, Henry has been a part of every Big Ten title since U-M’s first crown in Canada), two IAAF World Championship participants (Geena (Lara) Gall, 1982 but the seed for the program’s success was planted when Henry 2009, USA; Sifuentes, 2013, Canada) and other professionals, including added Mike McGuire and Arnett Chisholm to his staff in 1990. Amanda Eccleston (Brooks) and Lindsey Gallo (Reebok), among others. Henry earned his bachelor’s degree in education from U-M in 1980 as The Matawan, N.J. native is a former Wolverine (1976-79) himself, an a member of the track and field team (1977-80). He specialized in the All-American under Ron Warhurst who set the Big Ten three-mile record long jump, the first Wolverine to break 25 feet in that event and was (now retired) in 1976. He won the 1981 Detroit Free Press Marathon, and a four-time NCAA qualifier. Today, he is active in several Washtenaw earned his U-M degree in history and social studies in 1979. County community programs with his wife, Michelle. An experienced leader with international coaching and competition experience, Fowler was Sandy Fowler a nine-time All-American and national champion at Northeastern, where she won a 1982 Assistant Coach AIAW National Outdoor shot put title, and she brings that level of fire to an improving group Throws of Wolverine throwers. In three seasons, she has coached six athletes to NCAA Outdoor (5th Season) Regional qualifying and helped guide two to the NCAA Championships in Eugene.