The Michigan women's track and field team had never finished in the top 12 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

But no more.

The Wolverines finished a program-best third place at this year championships in Sacramento, Calif.

Not only did Michigan score 36 points in the four-day event, 11 higher than the program's previous high of 25 in 1983, the Wolverines had two national champions and seven All-Americans.

Sophomore Tiffany Ofili, the All-Big Ten first team member in the 100-meter hurdles, broke her own Michigan outdoor record by posting a time of 12.80 in her main event. With a great start out off the blocks, Ofili was able to hold off all other competitors, finishing a tenth-of-a-second ahead of the nearest competitor for her first national title.

"It's a way to dispel those myths that young kids hear - that you have to go down south to be a good sprinter," Ofili said through the athletic department. "It just shows that you don't have to and you can pretty much work hard anywhere - up North, down South, it doesn't matter."

Graduate student Anna Willard ran a career-best time of 9:38.08 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to give Michigan its second national champion of the day. With just 500 meters remaining in the race, Willard took the lead and never looked back. She made the most of her final race with the Maize and Blue by breaking the NCAA record.

Katie Erdman and Erin Webster, who both also sported the block 'M' for the final time, were both All-Americans. Erdman notched second place in the 800-meter run, just .06 seconds short of a national title. In the same race, sophomore Geena Gall's fifth-place finish earned her All-American honors as well.

Sophomore co-captain Bettie Wade had a career-best performance in the heptathlon (5,724 points). Her seventh-place finish earned Wade her first-ever NCAA Outdoor All-America status.

Junior Nicole Edwards' seventh-place time of 4:17.33 in the 1,500m run was less than eight seconds off the top time. She also earned All-American honors.

For a team that finished in 13th place with 19 points just a year ago, the Wolverines could not have asked for much more.

"It was just great performances across the board," Michigan associate head coach Mark McGuire said through the athletic department. "We only had eight athletes here and six of them scored. . We're very, very proud and excited about what we've done."