Michigan
NCAA Outdoor Championships (Day 4)
Willis, Ellerton Earn Hardware; U-M Ties 29th at NCAAs
6/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Junior/sophomore Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley) shattered the 27-year-old school record in the 5,000-meter run and earned All-America honors, while junior Andrew Ellerton (Sudbury, Ontario/Confederation) set a personal record in the 800-meter run to earn his fifth NCAA All-America citation as the University of Michigan men's track and field team posted its best outdoor team result in three seasons, finishing with a share of 29th place at the NCAA Outdoor Championships Saturday (June 11).
Willis clocked in at 13:27.54 for third place, bettering by 12 seconds the previous school record set by Bill Donakowski in 1978. Ellerton registered a personal-best 1:46.25 to rank fifth in the 800-meter run, matching his result in last season's NCAA meet.
As the 5,000-meter race immediately got out to a quick pace, Willis settled along the rail in the middle of the 16-man field -- running around the 10th spot -- as the pack came through the opening 1,000 meters at 2:43.89 and the 2,000-meter mark at 5:24.81. The field was stretched around the track at the halfway point, and Willis, keeping tempo with the leaders, gradually started to move through the field as other runners fell off the quick pace.
With four laps remaining, the Wolverine moved into sixth place among the first chase pack as the lead group of four built a 10-meter gap. That group thinned out over the next few laps until only Stanford teammates Ian Dobson and Ryan Hall remained with three laps to go while Willis hung onto the heels of Colorado's Brent Vaughn in the fourth spot, approximately 20 meters behind The Cardinal pair. The U-M sophomore passed Vaughn with 500 meters remaining, but trailing by five seconds, he simply couldn't bridge the gap and had to settle for third place. Running just his third competitive 5,000-meter race, Willis improved his personal best in the event for the third straight meet, shaving 26.60 seconds from the time he registered two weeks ago at the NCAA Mideast Regional.
In the 800-meter run, Ellerton started on the inside of the track in lane two and settled to the rear of the field at the break, holding on to the seventh spot as Texas Tech's Jonathon Johnson -- the defending NCAA outdoor champion -- took the pack through the halfway point at a fast 50.12. There was no movement among the field through the opening lap, but at the bell, the Wolverine positioned himself in the outside lane on the curve and picked up one spot in the backstretch to enter the home straightaway in sixth. Using his kick in the final 100 meters, Ellerton moved around the fading Johnson to finish fifth and trim 0.31 seconds from his previous best.
Sophomore Michael Whitehead (East Norristown, Mich./Norristown Area HS) finished one spot shy of All-America honors with an 11th-place finish in the triple jump, leaping 49-11 3/4 in just his first appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Whitehead jumped 52-3 1/4 Friday to advance to the finals and qualified for the outdoor championships with a school-record distance of 52-7 1/4 at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships.
Final Team Standings (Top 10)
1. Arkansas 60 2. Florida 49 3. LSU 36 4. BYU 34 Florida State 34 6. Southern Cal 33 7. Stanford 28 8. Texas 25 9. Arizona 23 Auburn 23 Oregon 23 ---------------------------- 29. MICHIGAN 10 Texas A&M 10
U-M Results (Day 4)
800-meter Run 1. Dmitrijs Milkevics, Nebraska 1:44.74 2. Kevin Hicks, Florida A&M 1:44.94 3. Sherridan Kirk, Auburn 1:45.43 4. Jeremy Mims, Kansas 1:45.86 5. Andrew Ellerton, U-M 1:46.25 6. Jonathon Johnson, Texas Tech 1:46.43 7. Courtney Jaworski, Penn 1:46.70 8. Peter Etoot, Alabama 1:46.80 5,000-meter Run 1. Ryan Hall, Stanford 13:22.32 2. Ian Dobson, Stanford 13:22.54 3. Nick Willis, U-M 13:27.54 4. Brent Vaughn, Colorado 13:40.11 5. Matt Tegenkamp, Wisconsin 13:41.07 6. Robert Cheseret, Arizona 13:41.88 7. Ed Moran, William & Mary 13:46.99 8. Chris Solinsky, Wisconsin 13:51.36 9. Shadrack Songok, Texas A&M 13:54.63 10. Kevin Chelimo, Texas Tech 13:59.87 11. Stephen Haas, Indiana 14:05.74 12. Eric Logsdon, Oregon 14:20.21 13. Chris Emme, Stanford 14:29.30 -- Josphat Boit, Arkansas DNF -- Simon Ngata, Georgia DNF -- Stephen Samoei, Texas-El Paso DNF Triple Jump 1. Rodrigo Mendes, Brigham Young 55-11 (17.04m) 2. Allen Simms, USC 55-10 1/2 (17.03m) 3. Aarik Wilson, Indiana 55-7 (16.94m) 4. Rafeeq Curry, Florida State 53-9 3/4 (16.40m) 5. Jaanus Uudmae, Arkansas 53-2 1/4 (16.21m) 6. Brian Veal, Texas State 53-1 (16.18m) 7. Samyr Laine, Harvard 52-10 (16.10m) 8. Brandon Atkinson, Mississippi 52-8 3/4 (16.07m) 9. Everett Bruce, North Carolina A&T 52-4 3/4 (15.97m) 10. Ryan Zimmerman, Arizona State 50-11 (15.52m) 11. Michael Whitehead, U-M 49-11 3/4 (15.23m) -- Marc Kellman, George Mason FOUL
Previous Results: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
