Atherley Dominates Pentathlon to Win National Title
VIDEO: Atherley celebrates title
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Michelle Atherley put on a show in the women’s pentathlon at the Birmingham CrossPlex to become Miami track and field’s 17th national champion.
“I knew coming into today, the goal was to win a national title,” Atherley said. “I wanted to go in and execute in each event and make my marks. I really focused on each event and didn’t even look at the scoreboard, but I feel great. That was a very happy moment and I’m really glad I made it here after people close to me have been telling me I would be a national champion. Now that it happened, it’s really surreal and I’ve seen so many do this and now I can say I’m a national champion.”
All eyes were on Miami’s senior when the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championship began on Thursday. Atherley entered the event with the nation’s leading score of 4,498 points, which she set at the ACC Indoor Championships two weeks ago.
“Michelle has been a champ all year,” head coach Amy Deem said. “She’s been able to step up, react and respond to what goes on around her and as the level of competition climbed, she was able to respond. That’s the true definition of a champion right there. I’m just proud of her and everything’s she done. She’s stayed focused by performing incredible at ACCs and came back two weeks later and performed phenomenally today. It’s a testament to her hard work, dedication and commitment.”
Atherley started the day with a win in the 60m hurdles and never slowed down as she won the women’s pentathlon and Miami’s seventh indoor national title. She became the 11th different Hurricane to win a national title and the 10th woman to do so.
“To know I was able to accomplish this on International Women’s Day and join so many Miami greats who have accomplished so much before me, it’s amazing” Atherley said. “I came here to be great and accomplish things and I feel honored to be among the likes of Shakima Wimbley and more before me.”
After breaking her own Miami record in the event at ACCs, Atherley was the one to beat heading into Birmingham. The North Port, Fla., native began her hunt for the title in heat 1 of the 60m hurdles and paced the field of 16 with a time of 8.16 seconds, just .01 second off from tying her personal-best time.
The 2019 ACC bronze medalist high jumper entered the event with a 49-point cushion and extended her lead as she set a personal-best mark at 1.78m. Atherley had reached 1.74m three times this season and also bested that mark at ACCs, but waited for the biggest stage to up her mark.
On her last attempt in the shot put, Atherley put together a powerful throw to earn another personal-best mark at 13.01m. The mark was good for a third-place finish and kept her in first-place heading into the long jump.
Atherley scored 871 points in the long jump with a mark of 6.07m to finish third. After four events, Atherley was still in first place heading into the 800m, which favored the Cane.
The ACC Indoor Field MVP finished fourth in the last event with a time of 2:14.34 and won her first national title with a program record score of 4,547 points, besting her conference championship score by 49 points.
“I’m so proud that she was able to come back after that strong ACC performance,” assistant coach Rob Jarvis said. “She hit a homerun again today by hitting so many lifetime-bests and couldn’t ask for anything more in probably the biggest national event for her career to this point.”
Sophomore Tiara McMinn was the next Cane up on the track. McMinn entered the 60m hurdle prelims tied with the second-fastest time at 7.95 seconds and Miami’s program record. McMinn was coming off a gold medal performance at ACCs and was set for Heat 2 of the event. After two equipment malfunctions, McMinn ended her indoor season running a time of 8.08 seconds.
Junior Brittny Ellis was next to make her way to the track in women’s 400m. Ellis barely missed the finals, finishing ninth overall with a time of 53.17 seconds. The Gurnee, Ill., native had a standout indoor season after redshirting last year and capped off her return with a gold medal in the 400m at ACCs.
Sophomore Kayla Johnson was the final Cane to compete in the individual events, running in Heat 1 of the women’s 800m. Johnson stepped on the national stage after recording her second program record at ACCs, with a silver medal time in the 800m. The Miami native concluded her indoor campaign running a time of 2:12.76 in the prelims.
“I’m disappointed in the other performances today,” Deem said. “As a team, we have to develop an attitude where we don’t just step up at ACCs. We’re fortunate to win multiple ACCs but we tend to get to NCAAs and not perform to the level that we’re more than capable of doing.”
Miami’s ninth-ranked 4x400m relay team will be the final event for the Miami women tomorrow at 6:40 p.m. Coming off the school’s fourth-fastest time in program history, sophomore Symone Mason, Ellis, Johnson and senior Samantha Gonzalez will close out the NCAA Championship and indoor season.
“I want them to go out and said if we do what we did, or close to what we did to get here, you will be in the finals,” Deem said. ” I think if they go out there and run with the determination they did at ACCs, I think that we’ll surprise some people and do well tomorrow.”
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