W Track wins B1G Outdoor Championship in rundown
After Michigan won the B1G Indoor Championship back in March, the Wolverine Women were looking for their first sweep of the B1G since 2003 when they last won both Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
The odds were a little against it at first as Michigan's star distance runner Erin Finn decided to take outdoor season off to train for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio this summer.
Michigan trailed by a lot at one point. I believe we were behind 20 points to Minnesota on this final day.
That was until the monster finish we had in the 800M. Michigan took 1-2-4 in the race which was closed the gap in points to just under 10.
Then, with just two events left, Michigan took the lead over Minnesota when Gina Sereno came from behind to win the 5,000M. Sereno chased down the MSU runner and beat her on the bell lap down the stretch in thrilling fashion.
That put Michigan ahead 92-91 with just one race left to decide the championship: the 4x400M Relay.
Michigan wouldn't win that race as Minnesota fininished 4th, just one spot ahead of Michigan. But, that wasn't enough to completely jump us in the points. Purdue thankfully held on to 3rd place.
Michigan and Minnesota tie for the 2016 B1G Outdoor Championship at 106 points total.
Here are the Wolverines who took home B1G Individual Championships-
- 100 Meters Hurdles (12.91)- Cindy Ofili
- 10,000 Meters (34:19.39)- Gina Sereno
- 1,500 Meters (4:20.17)- Shannon Osika
- 800 Meters (2:08.62)- Devon Hoppe
- 5,000 Meters (16:08.42)- Gina Sereno
Here are the final scores-
Place | Team | Points |
1. | Michigan | 106.00 |
Minnesota | 106.00 | |
3. | Nebraska | 94.00 |
4. | Purdue | 87.00 |
5. | Ohio State | 74.00 |
6. | Michigan State | 58.00 |
Iowa | 58.00 | |
8. | Wisconsin | 55.00 |
9. | Indiana | 53.50 |
10. | Penn State | 47.50 |
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^This is Coach Henry's son, for those who don't know.
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Celebrate all championships! Great work by the team, and especially to do so with the star (understandably) out!
Awesome job, ladies! And WD, thanks for the great write-up!
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That surprises me.
It seems at least 3 of the 4 teams noted above do indeed field teams - only Northwestern does not seem to have one - or maybe they just suck and didn't score:
http://results.deltatiming.com/big-ten/tf/2016-big-ten-outdoor-champion…
[Can't embed for some reason]
I'm less surprised now.
Rutgers 32
Maryland 29
Illinois last
The Men also finished runner-up, their highest finish since the outdoor championship in 2008.
Exciting times for Michigan Track.
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Every track meet outcome should come down to the 4x4. It makes that race even more amazing than it already is.
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The top instate men will hopefully give Michigan a chance now rather than always going south or west to college.
It's finally changing. The women are the tops of the conference and now the men are about to take that next step next year IMO.
Those new stadiums are going to be great for recruiting.
MXC being a top-10 team and winning the B1G this season sure helps.
Director's Cup for the BIG? I know we can just look at the rankings of the Director's Cup and see where BIG schools are, but there are a number of sports that BIG has no or little representation in.