Following last weekend’s 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships to conclude its indoor season, the Michigan women’s track and field team kicked off the outdoor segment of its year at the Spring Break Collegiate Invitational in Irvine, Calif.

The Wolverines were led by dominant performances in the 800- and 1,500-meter runs by senior Geena Gall and sophomore Danielle Tauro in the non-scoring event at UC Irvine’s Anteater Track Stadium.

Gall won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:02.80 and also won the 1,500-meter in 4:20.05. Her performance continued to build on her indoor season accomplishments in the 800-meter run that featured a Big Ten championship and a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Tauro nearly matched Gall throughout the two-day event. She finished second in both events, running the 800-meter in 2:08.32, and the 1,500-meter in 4:25.22.

The performances gave each runner a pair of NCAA regional qualifying times, and they combined for four of Michigan’s five regional times in the event.

Michigan associate head coach Mike McGuire said that despite Gall’s 1,500-meter run that tied her second-best time in the event, and her personal-best time in the 800-meter run, the senior’s time could have been even lower if the race had been contested. There was also the issue of fatigue.

“We were a little tired because we got out of there a little late,“ McGuire said. “We flew out there as late as possible, because we didn’t want to miss classes. I thought they were even sharper Saturday when they came back with regional marks in the 800.”

Although the senior tri-captain made more headlines during the indoor season in the 800-meter run, she is no stranger to the 1,500-meter. At last year’s Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Gall came in third with a time of 4:23.77. She was also a member of the 4x1,500-meter relay team that currently holds the NCAA record (17:52.62).

Redshirt junior Kelly Sampson joined Tauro and Gall at the top of the leaderboard in the 1,500-meter run. She ran a 4:28.67, good enough for third.

Michigan also had a good weekend in the field events as redshirt junior Melissa Gurchinoff finished second in the hammer event with a 50.28-meter throw.

McGuire said that given the weekend's circumstances for the Wolverines, they performed admirably to kick off the indoor season.

“We came out of the championship part of the season and this was a lower-key setting,” McGuire said. “It’s not the quality of the competition we’ll see later this spring.”