Weekly Release #7

Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, Feb. 22 -- host Harold Silverston Invitational (U-M Track Building), 9:30 a.m./noon
Sat-Sun., March 1-2 -- at Big Ten Indoor Championships (Champaign, Ill.), 10:30 a.m. CST

This Week: Harold Silverston Invitational
The University of Michigan men's track and field team will host its final home meet of the indoor season with the Harold Silverston Invitational this Saturday (Feb. 22) at the U-M Track Building. Field events are scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. start, while track competition is set to begin at noon. Slated to compete at the meet will be squads from Calvin College, Detroit Mercy, Eastern Michigan, Hillsdale, Toledo, Waterloo, Western Michigan and Windsor.

Last Time Around: Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup
The Wolverines finished fourth with 80 points in the Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup last Friday and Saturday (Feb. 14-15) in State College, Pa., while Big Ten rival Ohio State was victorious with a final total of 136 points. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Hesselink (Freeport, Mich./Thornapple-Kellogg HS) and freshman Andrew Ellerton (Windsor, Ontario/Confederation HS) won the 3,000- and 600-meter events, respectively. Freshman Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) earned a second-place finish in the 800 meters, just  0.02 seconds behind the race's winner.

600-Meter Special
Freshman Andrew Ellerton has already made his mark on the Michigan record books, posting the third-fastest 600-meter performance in school history at the Sykes/Sabok Invitational. Ellerton's 1:19.11 mark trails only Jeremy Schneider's (West Bloomfield, Mich./Andover HS) 2001 record of 1:17.33 and Todd Burham's (1993-96) 1995 result of 1:18.08. Coincidently, sophomore Seth Waits (Grand Rapids, Ohio/Otsego HS) also made his way into the record book with his Sykes/Sabok 600-meter time of 1:19.78, which stands in sixth position.

Immediate Impact
Redshirt freshman Braylon Edwards (Detroit, Mich./Bishop Gallagher HS) did not take long to have an impact on Michigan's track and field team. The two-sport star (football and track and field) posted Michigan's third fastest all-time performance in the 200-meter dash at the Meyo Invitational (Feb. 8) with his result of 21.81. Edwards also hold Michigan's top marks this season in the 60-meter dash (6.88) and the high jump (6-10 3/4).

Leaps and Bounds
For the second week in a row, redshirt sophomore David Malonson (Lynwood, Calif./Mayfair HS) has posted a season best in the long jump. Malonson's leap of 23-4 at the Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup outdistanced his previous high of 23-1which he achieved at the Meyo Invitational (Feb. 7).

Safe in the Vault
Freshman Spencer Dowdall (Coral Spings, Fla./Coral Springs HS) set Michigan's season-best mark in the pole vault with his vault of 15-3 at the Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup.

I Would Run 3,000 Meters
With three of the four best 3,000-meter times this season, Michigan had a successful race at the Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup. Race winner Ryan Hesselink posted U-M's second-fastest result (8:12.49), while senior transfer Alex L'Heureux (Weedon, Quebec/Palm Beach Gardens HS, Fla.) and redshirt junior Nick Stanko (Wyandotte, Mich./Roosevelt HS) ran to marks of 8:18.06 and 8:18.32, respectively, for the third- and fourth-best times this season.

Run All Yee Faithful
Junior Chris Yee (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) posted a pair of season bests at the Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup. His 400-meter dash time of 49.86 was U-M's top result of the weekend, while the junior sprinter improved his season-best time in the 200 meters to 22.81.

Cummings and Goings
Senior/junior Brent Cummings (Belding, Mich./Belding HS), who made his season debut in the 60-meter dash one week ago at the Meyo Invitational, posted the Maize and Blue's best 200-meter result at the Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup. Cummings' time of 22.59 is U-M's third-fastest time this season.

Four Men and a Baton
Michigan's 1,600-meter relay unit of Kaj Johansson (Honor, Mich./Benzie Central HS), DarNell Talbert (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel HS), Seth Waits and Kevin Lamb (East Lansing, Mich./Haslett HS) set a new season best of 3:15.40 at the Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup. The group bettered Michigan's previous best by over two seconds.

Breaking the 4:00 Barrier at Michigan
With their performances at the Meyo Invitational (Feb. 8), Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS) and Nick Willis became just the fifth and sixth Wolverines to break the mile's hallowed four-minute mark. The pair join former Wolverines Kevin Sullivan (1994-98), Brian Diemer (1980-83), Scott MacDonald (1992-96) and Jay Cantin (1997-2000) in Michigan's four-minute club. Sullivan is the school record holder with his 1995 time of 3:55.33, while Brannen and Willis now sit in second and third on the list.

The Road to Fayetteville
Though the Maize and Blue did not post any NCAA-eligible times at the Sykes/Sabok Challenge Cup, it boasts NCAA qualifiers in a total of four events this season. Nate Brannen has three automatic runs (800-meter, mile and distance medley relay), while Nick Willis has run two automatic times (mile and distance medley relay) in additional to his provisional mile and 3,000-meter runs earlier this season. At the adidas Boston Indoor Games (Feb. 1), the U-M DMR unit ran an automatic mark. The 2003 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held March 14-15 at the Randall Tyson Indoor Track in Fayetteville, Ark. Here is a cheat sheet of Michigan's NCAA times:

Event (Automatic/Provisional Cut)	Name	Time	Date Set
800 Meters (1:48.90/1:50.80)	Nate Brannen	1:48.80	1/18 Michigan Quadrangular
Mile (4:01.20/4:05.70)	Nate Brannen	3:57.96	2/8 Meyo Invitational
	Nick Willis	3:58.15	2/8 Meyo Invitational
	Alex L'Heureux	4:04.50	2/8 Meyo Invitational
3,000 Meters (7:58.40/8:09.30)	Nick Willis	7:59.19	1/25 Red Simmons Invitational
DMR (9:36.00/9:45.75)	Brannen, Waits,     Ellerton, Willis	9:35.80	2/1 adidas Boston Indoor Games

Telling Time
Nate Brannen and Nick Willis have posted some of the NCAA's top times in the 2003 indoor season. As of Feb. 17, Brannen owns the nation's fourth-best mark in the 800-meter run at 1:48.80. Willis ranks eighth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 7:57.89. The pair own the second- and fourth-best times in the world for the mile this season at 3:57.96 and 3:58.15, respectively. The pair join Seth Waits and Andrew Ellerton to compose the Maize and Blue's fourth-ranked distance medley relay team. A list of the top collegiate times is compiled by Robert Podkamenon for the NCAA and is posted weekly at ncaasports.com.

Rank Me
Michigan remains in the top 10 at No. 7 in the most recent Trackwire 25 poll (Feb. 18). The Trackwire 25 projects a hypothetical score for the NCAA meet, factoring in injury reports and other variables supported by information gathered from coaches and NCAA-qualifying competitions across the country.

Rank, Team Points 1. Arkansas 56 2. South Carolina 49 3. LSU 42 4. Mississippi State 30 5. Florida 28 6. Stanford 24 7. MICHIGAN 22 8. Auburn 21 9. Villanova 20 10. Purdue 18 11. TCU 17 12. Tennessee 15 Ohio State 15 USC 15 Nebraska 15 16. Eastern Michigan 14 17. Kentucky 13 18. Washington 10 Manhattan 10 La. Southern-Baton Rouge 10 21. Georgia 9 Texas Tech 9 23. Texas 8 North Carolina 8 Pennsylvania 8 Texas A&M 8 Missouri 8 Cal State Fullerton 8

Next Time Around
The Wolverines will travel to Champaign, Ill., for the 2003 Big Ten Indoor Championships next Saturday and Sunday (March 1-2). The event will take place at Illinois' Armory Track, with competition beginning each day at 10:30 a.m. CST.

Contact: Andrew Ladd (734) 763-4423