With strong talent across the board and motivation never in short supply, the Michigan women’s track and field team is quickly making its case to be a top contender at the Big Ten Indoor competition at the end of the month.

After posting seven top-five performances and setting several personal records at the Rod McCravy Invitational this past weekend in Kentucky, the Wolverines proved they can step up and perform well in high pressure meets.

“Everyone is really on par to compete and get faster,” senior captain Shana Vinson said “We want to give the impression when we do go to Big Tens that we’re on top of our game.”

Michigan faced competition from 13 non-conference foes in its largest meet of the year, including No. 5 Florida State, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 14 Louisville. This meet gave the team a glimpse of other levels of competition outside the Big Ten.

“It’s nice to see different athletes from different schools,” Michigan coach James Henry said. “That can be positive, and help motivate the kids as well.”

Vinson – who took third place and posted personal bests in both the 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash – clearly wasn’t phased by the other competitors this weekend. She was experienced success this year and is quickly becoming a threat in the Big Ten.

“(Vinson) is starting to run like she is capable of running,” Henry said. “She’s being consistent as well as improving. I think she is one of the better sprinters in the Big Ten and I hope she can prove that now.”

Other noteworthy performers from the weekend included redshirt junior Abbey Breidenstein, who took third place in the pole vault and sophomore Jillian Purvis, who took fifth in the 60-meter hurdles. Purvis said that facing so many different teams this weekend helped her evaluate where she stands at this point in the season.

“The team is pretty focused and ‘all in,’ ” Purvis said. “I know I still have some time still and I know that it will all come together once Big Ten Indoors come around.”

Even the weight throwers, who collectively struggled at the invitational – taking 15th, 16th, and 20th place – know that with three meets remaining before the conference contest, there is more than enough time to rebound from this weekend’s performances.

“You go back to basics,” Pendleton said. “You just think about how you can improve on your mental game, how you can improve on your physical game, look to the week that’s coming and work on the things that weren’t your strong points at the meet.”

With a meet every weekend until the Big Ten championships begin, Michigan has plenty of opportunities to elevate its game. Consistency will be the key ingredient in developing a strong team before facing in-conference competition, and the Wolverine captains are using their ranks to ensure that the team trains hard throughout the week.

“I’m always around asking people how the practices were,” junior co-captain Emily Pendleton said. “Trying to get everyone involved in everyone else’s’ event groups, I think it’s a really good way to keep people motivated and keep people focused.”

The Wolverines will use the week in practice to prepare for the upcoming split meets, as some members travel South Bend, Ind. and some to New York to compete this weekend. Facing varied competition like they did at Kentucky will help Michigan in the long run, as the team knows that to be the best, you must beat the best.

“We haven’t really had the opportunity other than at Penn State to race against a lot of other fast teams,” Vinson said. “I think everyone kind of took advantage of that and put on their game face and ran a little bit harder because of the competition we had.”