The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1504445
14 THE WOLVERINE ❱ AUGUST 2023 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS ❱ Student-Athlete Of The Month Track And Field Graduate Aurora Rynda Aurora Rynda went out on a high note to finish her fifth and final season at Michigan, capturing Big Ten titles in the 800-meter outdoor and 600-meter indoor events. Her presence also helped U-M cap- ture a program Big Ten title this spring and its highest outdoor NCAA Championship finish since 2009 at 14th place. Rynda, who earned CSC Academic All-America hon- ors in June, claimed her third 800-meter Big Ten title with the win in May and leaves Michi- gan as a 10-time conference crown winner. "It was just awesome to do it again," Rynda said. "Every time you win a title like that, it just gets sweeter and sweeter. And there's always more pressure, but it was just so exciting to finish my last Big Ten event on top like that. Then to win the team title in addition to that was even better, just compar- ing freshman year to now. It's just so fun to be a part of a team like this. "It 's always nerve-wrack- ing before, but when you go through it so many times with so many years of practice it's just like any other meet, and I think what makes people so great is being able to take off the pressure and just race, and race the bodies around you. "I just simplified it for myself and just wanted to win the race and did what I had to do to get to the line first. It was a dogfight to the end, but it's always fun to win in a race like that rather than it just being handed to you." Rynda, who studied movement science in Ann Arbor, leaves school taking plenty of lessons with her. "I think the biggest thing I've learned is consistency," she said. "Everyone goes through injuries, and this is just talking in my athletic career, but injuries are inevitable. If you're able to get con- sistent training, whether that's in the weight room or on the track and just staying consistent and patient, that was the biggest thing for me." Rynda has had a full career at Michigan with plenty of ups and downs, but she wanted to make sure that she left behind the blueprint for how to get through adversity. "When you look at the younger generation of athletes, you want to instill in them that there are going to be highs and lows, but you just want to get through the lows and appreciate the highs and really trust your support staff because they're here to get you through it," Rynda said. "They care about you as a person, and I think that's what's so great about being at Michigan. They care about your whole career here, not just athletically, but just also as a woman. I think I've grown into someone that the younger me five years ago would be really proud of." Rynda, a Toronto native, plans to continue her racing career in pursuit of a spot with Team Canada before continuing her academic career as a physician's assistant. — Anthony Broome Rynda, who earned CSC Academic All-America honors in June, claimed her third 800-meter Big Ten title with the win in May. She leaves Michigan as a 10-time conference crown winner in indoor and outdoor track and field. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY MICHIGAN'S TOP PERFORMERS Women's golf senior Monet Chun: She made the cut at the U.S. Women's Open at the Pebble Beach Resort, becoming the first amateur from U-M to do so at an LPGA and major event. A Richmond Hills, Ontario, native, Chun was the first Wolverine golfer to compete in the U.S. Wom- en's Open as an amateur and just the second golfer in program history to do so, joining Elaine Crosby, who made 11 appearances as a pro. One of four amateurs to make the cut for the weekend this year, Chun finished tied for 59th with a 12-over final score. Baseball sophomore Mitch Voit: The third base- man/pitcher was named a second-team Freshman All- American as a utility player by D1Baseball. Voit, also tabbed as an All-Big Ten Freshman Team honoree, started 51 games at third base, batting .267 with 7 home runs (second on the team and fifth-most by a U-M freshman since 1960) and 32 RBIs. In 36 innings on the mound, the Whitefish Bay, Wis., na- tive paced the Wolverines with a 3.25 ERA with 25 strikeouts. Voit is U-M's first player to earn D1Base- ball freshman honors since Jesse Franklin and Ben Dragani both landed on the second team in 2018. Women's basketball junior Laila Phelia: The point guard helped the United States finish with a silver medal in the FIBA Women's AmeriCup, with the team falling to Brazil 69-58 in the championship game. Phe- lia, a second-team All-Big Ten selection last season, started the last four games, averaging 3.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per contest. Men's tennis senior Ondrej Styler: The NCAA singles runner-up was the third Wolverine to reach the national championship since the NCAA switched to the current for- mat of a separate singles championship in 1977, join- ing Dan Goldberg (1987) and Michael Leach (1982). Styler finished ranked No. 4 in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings and was named an ITA All-American. Styler also was named ITA Midwest Senior Player of the Year as well as Big Ten Player of the Year. — Clayton Sayfie