ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Savannah Sutherland is bringing home an individual NCAA Division I National Championship for the women’s track and field team. She won the 400-meter hurdles on the final day of the championship meet at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. It is the first women’s individual title for Michigan since 2017.

She ran a lifetime best of 54.45 in the championship run leading wire-to-wire. She held off Kentucky’s Massai Russell in the final hurdle to claim the win. She entered the day as the underdog as Arkansas’s Britton Wilson was the favorite.

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Sutherland said before the race, “I had nothing to lose, so I might as well give it all I’ve got.”

Here 54.45 was almost a second better (55.36) than her previous best as it set a school record, a Canadian U23 record, and is a 2023 world top-10 mark and a world standard. She earned All-American first-team honors for her finish.

The last female NCAA champion for Michigan came in 2017 when Jaimie Phelan wont he 1,500 meter run.