The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/678402
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 2016 Rio Olympic Games and has accumulated the most impressive hardware, winning five national ti‑ tles during her U‑M career (2006‑09). "It's a lot of fun to have such a competitive family," said Ofili‑Por‑ ter, who serves as both a mentor and challenger to Cindy. "Every time I turn around she's broken another one of my records at Michigan, so she motivates me every day to run faster. "But I'm her biggest fan. I want to see her have success and any advice I can give her, I gladly give, even if it means she's going to go out and break another record of mine." Growing up in neighboring Ypsi‑ lanti, Ofili‑Porter was a promising sprinter during her prep days and had her choice of college opportuni‑ ties. She heard the knocks on Michi‑ gan — U‑M has produced just one 100‑meter dash Big Ten champion and, prior to her arrival, no one had ever won the 60‑ or 100‑meter hurdles at a conference meet — but she knew that staying close to home in Ann Ar‑ bor was the right place for her. "From an early age, my parents in‑ stilled in us the importance of educa‑ tion and athletics, with even a bigger emphasis on education, so I knew I wanted to go somewhere that would incorporate the two," she said. "And then, I'm very family ori‑ ented, it's close to home, and I was able to be on campus away from home and, at the same time, I was still close enough to go home to visit my family on the weekends." Ofili‑Porter was a league champion in the 100‑meter outdoor hurdles her freshman year, but a month later she failed to qualify for the semifinals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. However, she did not allow the SEC and ACC coaches that told her she was making a mistake going to Mich‑ igan impact her process. She went to Beijing, China, that summer and placed third in the 100‑meter hurdles at the 2006 World Junior Champion‑ ships. "At that moment, I realized I could be as good as I wanted to be if I worked really hard, stayed deter‑ mined and passionate," Ofili‑Porter said. "That was a huge starting point for me, and I came back my sopho‑ more year and won my first national title." In 2007, Ofili‑Porter swept the 60‑ and 100‑meter hurdle events at the conference indoor and outdoor meets, then clocked a personal‑record 12.80 seconds to win the 100‑meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. What she did next is the stuff of legends — Ofili‑Porter never lost an NCAA hurdle race again, winning the 60‑meter indoors in 2008 and 2009, and the 100‑meter hurdles the same two years, capping her Maize and Blue career as the most accom‑ plished athlete in program history with five NCAA titles (there are a pair of Wolverines with two apiece). "I didn't think anything like that could be possible," she said. "I was good in high school, but the progres‑ sion and improvement I made my first two years was overwhelming. And then once I felt that first national title, I had the motivation and the