Big Ten Indoor Championships Among Five Home Meets on 2019 Schedule
10/15/2018 5:08:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
• 2018-19 U-M Men's Track and Field Schedule
• 2018-19 U-M Women's Track and Field Schedule
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Five home meets headline the 2019 University of Michigan track and field schedule announced Monday (Oct. 15) by head coaches James Henry and Jerry Clayton, including the new U-M Indoor Track Building's first Big Ten Conference Championships and the first-ever outdoor competition at the new U-M Track and Field Stadium.
Now in its second year of operation, the world-class U-M Indoor Track Building will host three premier regular-season meets on Jan. 12 (Wolverine Invitational), Jan. 19 (Big Ten Invitational) and Feb. 1-2 (Power Five Invitational) in the run-up to the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 22-23.
Michigan's outdoor regular season will conclude on May 5 with the Len Paddock Open, which returns to the Wolverines' schedule after a six-season hiatus. The Len Paddock Open was last hosted by Michigan during the 2012 campaign.
"Our inaugural home schedule last year ended up producing some of the most exciting competitions and memorable moments we've had at Michigan during my time here," Henry said. "With another year in the new facility under our belts and with the addition of the Big Ten Championships and our first outdoor home meet at the new complex, this year is shaping up to be even more exciting and memorable."
Those four indoor home meets will build up to the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 8-9 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Outdoors, the Len Paddock Open will lead directly into the Big Ten Outdoor Championships on May 10-12 in Iowa City, Iowa. That will be followed by the NCAA East Preliminaries on May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Florida, and the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 5-8 in Austin, Texas.
"As always our goal is to be among the best in the conference and the best in the country," Clayton said. "By both bringing in other top-tier teams to our facility for our home meets and seeking out the best competitive opportunities when we go on the road, this schedule will have us ready to perform when titles are on the line."
The indoor season kicks off as the Wolverines host numerous teams from around the region at the Wolverine Invitational on Jan. 12. Scheduled to compete in front of crowds upwards of 2,000 people on the facility's state-of-the-art, hydraulically banked, 200-meter track are Michigan State, South Florida, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent State, Toledo and Hillsdale.
In what will be a pseudo-preview of the Big Ten Championships a month later, the Big Ten Invitational on Jan. 19 will bring to town some of the top teams in the conference for their first looks at the venue and the competition. Slated to compete are Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, Nebraska, Illinois and Maryland.
The scope of competition only widens two weekends later as teams from all over the eastern half of the United States descend on Ann Arbor for the Power Five Invitational. Big Ten foes Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin will be joined by ACC powers Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami (Fla.) and Pitt, as well as Vanderbilt from the SEC.
Michigan will go on the road on the in-between weekends, including trips to Boston University (Jan. 25-26) and a three-event weekend at Iowa State, Vanderbilt and Washington (Feb. 8-9).
The indoor season will culminate at the NCAA Championships on March 8-9, to be contested at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama. When last the NCAA meet was held at the CrossPlex in 2016, the Wolverine women placed sixth as Cindy Ofili claimed the 60-meter hurdles national title and Erin Finn was the national runner-up at both 3,000 and 5,000 meters. For the men, both decathlete Steven Bastien and the men's distance medley relay earned All-America honors.
The outdoor campaign picks up right away for the Wolverines, as various event groups hit the road to Miami (March 15-16), Vanderbilt (March 22-23), Stanford (March 29-30) and Arizona (April 4-5) on consecutive weekends.
With only the combined-event athletes competing at Arizona, the rest of the team will get a week off before back-to-back split-squad weekends at Louisville and UC San Diego (April 12-13) followed by Stanford and Virginia (April 19-20).
A week away from competition for final exams bridges that last weekend and the Len Paddock Open on May 3. The meet will serve as a final tune-up for the Wolverines before beginning their postseason run.
The conference's best will await the Wolverines on May 10-12 in Iowa City, Iowa, for the Big Ten Championships. Two weeks later, berths to the NCAA Outdoor Championships will be on the line as the top individual Wolverines compete at the NCAA East Preliminaries on May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Florida.
The collegiate season will come to its dramatic conclusion on June 5-8 in Austin, Texas, for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The national meet will be hosted by Texas for the first time since 2004, and Michigan will be looking to extend its streak of consecutive years with an NCAA outdoor champion to four years. Ben Flanagan won the men's 10,000-meter title in 2018, Jaimie Phelan claimed the women's 1,500-meter crown in 2017, and Mason Ferlic was victorious in the 2016 men's 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Players Mentioned
