Some of the most elite athletes in the country raced their hearts out at The TRACK at New Balance in Boston, Massachusetts this past weekend. Primed and ready to compete against the best of the best, the Michigan track and field team sent seven athletes to the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The Wolverines’ men’s team brought its program-record setting distance medley relay, anchored by graduate Nick Foster. Fellow graduate Tom Brady also competed, representing the Wolverines in the 5,000-meter race as the school-record holder. The women’s team was composed of senior Aasia Laurencin and junior Savannah Sutherland, the Big Ten title-holders in the 60-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash, respectively.
While the men struggled to score points, Laurencin and Sutherland came through to put Michigan on the board, as the women’s team placed 36th out of 84 teams.
For Michigan, the meet began Friday afternoon with the men’s mile semifinals. Foster, a first-team All American, matched up against stiff competition. Racing in the third-fastest qualifying heat in meet history, Foster posted a strong 3:57.85 time to advance to the finals as the sixth seed. In the outstanding preliminary round, all 10 final qualifiers ran a sub-four minute mile.
“Overall, I’m just proud to be here and be competing with the top guys in the country,” Foster said. “Obviously, I would’ve wanted a little bit more than that in the final yesterday, but overall it was a great experience.”
Though he advanced to the finals, Foster placed ninth out of 10 in the mile finals with a time of 4:05.32, an underwhelming finish from the veteran. While he may have wanted more, his indoor season was one for the record books. He broke the school record for the mile in February, in addition to the aforementioned relay.
The distance medley relays took place Friday night. Freshman Trent McFarland led off for the Wolverines with a strong 1200-meter leg, followed by senior Dubem Amene in the 400-meter leg, junior Miles Brown in the 800-meters leg and Foster closing out with 1600-meters.
Amene had run the individual 400-meter dash a few hours earlier, placing 12th in the semifinals. The Wolverines’ program-record holder sprinted past the Washington and North Carolina teams to get his relay in the race at the front of the pack. Brown, another school-record holder in the 600-meter and 800-meter races, kept Michigan moving, but ultimately, the Wolverines’ relay couldn’t hold on.
Foster, with a quick turnaround after the mile, struggled to keep up with the surge from the rest of the anchors in the last 600 meters. The fatigue proved too much as he crossed the finish line last of the twelve teams.
“It was a tough decision to run it and I just ended up not having the legs a couple hours after the prelim, so it was a tough race,” Foster said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any points out of it but the three guys ahead of me did a great job and gave me the stick in a really good spot.”
While the men’s team may have come up short in its races, failing to earn a single point, Laurencin and Sutherland both took off with a bang to get things going for the women’s team.
Fresh off a Big Ten win, Laurencin came flying over the hurdles, looking agile and strong in the 60-meter race. She set a new lifetime-best of 7.99, placing fourth in the preliminaries and advancing to the finals. In the Saturday finals, Laurencin went 8.04 to take sixth place, earning the first points of the meet for Michigan.
Sutherland also advanced to the final in her race, the 400-meter dash, after putting up a 52.26 in the semifinals. The junior’s indoor season was delayed due to injury, but she came back on fire, claiming the title at the Big Ten Championships after running the 400-meter for the first time this season.
“I’m really thankful for the opportunity to have been able to compete at Nationals because of my shorter season,” said Sutherland. “To still be able to qualify and make the final and be All-American, I’m really grateful for all of that.”
Sutherland finished with a time of 52.33 against a fierce finals heat filled with Arkansas upperclassmen; the top three finishers in the 400-meter dash were all Razorbacks. Sutherland’s time placed her at seventh in the finals, the same result as last year.
Laurencin and Sutherland combined for the Wolverines’ five total points. Both athletes were also awarded All-American first-team honors for their performances.
“Their races were definitely the highlight of the meet,” Michigan coach Kevin Sullivan said. “It’s huge to (qualify for a) final at a meet like this.”
The weekend was certainly filled with ups and downs for the Wolverines, as they battled against the top collegiate runners in the Indoor Championships. But Laurencin and Sutherland provided bright spots to close out Michigan’s indoor season after a disappointing performance from the men’s side.