Michigan
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Flanagan's Title, Ellis' School Record Headlines Day One at Big Tens
5/11/2018 11:22:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Stadium)
Event: Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships (Day 1 of 3)
U-M Team Result: First Place of 12 Teams (27 points) After Day 1
Next U-M Event: Saturday, May 12 -- Big Ten Championships - Day 2 (Bloomington, Ind.), 4:15 p.m.
• Photo Gallery | Complete Results
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Ben Flanagan reclaimed his spot atop the Big Ten and Joe Ellis claimed his spot among its all-time best as the University of Michigan men kicked off day one of the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Indiana with a bang on Friday (May 11).
Flanagan used an incendiary kick in the late stages of the 10,000-meter final to recapture the title he last won in 2016, while Ellis obliterated his own school record for a runner-up finish in what was, by the numbers, the greatest head-to-head hammer throw showdown in conference history.
With Flanagan's 10 points for winning and Ellis' eight second-place points -- along with nine additional points from a fourth-place hammer throw finish from Grant Cartwright and a fifth-place effort in the 10,000 meters by Billy Bund -- the Wolverines finished the first day of competition atop the team leaderboard with 27 points.
With three of 21 events scored at this point, Penn State trailed in second with 24 points and Rutgers checked in third after the first session with 18.
Michigan also advanced a trio of competitors in two of the three events with Friday preliminary rounds to Sunday's finals. Former conference 400-meter hurdles winner Taylor McLaughlin led the way with a season-best time, accompanied by career-best efforts from fellow 400 hurdler Roland Amarteifio and 1,500-meter runner Anthony Berry.
Flanagan ran a blistering last mile to capture his second Big Ten 10,000-meter title in three seasons, crossing the line in 30:23.86 to win by just over three seconds. He is the first in school history to win the 10,000-meter title in non-consecutive seasons, and the fourth to win multiple titles at the distance. Flanagan joins Mike Wisnieski (2000-01), John Mortimer (1997-98) and John Scherer (1988-89) on that exclusive list.
After coming through the 5,000-meter halfway split outside the top 10 amidst a large lead pack, Flanagan and Bund both made moves into the top 10 over the next two kilometers. When only 2,000 meters remained in the race, Flanagan made a move to position himself in second just off the leader in anticipation of the break that was inevitably coming.
The move came just over a lap later, and Flanagan answered. After an Ohio State runner streaked past the front of the pack to open things up, Flanagan was one of the few who fully responded to the move.
By the next time they completed a lap around the track with 1,200 meters to go, Flanagan was in charge and everyone else was chasing. Michigan State's Clark Ruiz stuck with him for part of the next lap, but Flanagan's strength was too much for the Spartan to match.
With 800 meters to go, Flanagan opened up nearly a two-and-a-half second gap over Ruiz, as Indiana's eventual runner-up Ben Veatch then took over as his main pursuer over the last half mile. At the bell, Flanagan's lead had extended to nearly seven seconds. While Flanagan's advantage was ultimately cut to just more than three seconds, the damage was done and no one was going to catch the two-time champion.
With splits of 65.11, 64.63, 63.91 and 63.10 over the final four laps, Flanagan ultimately clocked approximately a 4:17 last 1,600 meters.
Bund held strong throughout Flanagan's move, moving up from seventh to fifth over the final two kilometers when the race was made and crossing the line in 30:36.96. This was his second scoring effort of his senior season, adding to a seventh-place finish in the 3,000 meters.
Earlier in the day in the hammer, Ellis may not have defended his league crown in his signature event, but he came away as the runner-up to 2016 Olympian and 2017 NCAA champion Rudy Winkler of Rutgers -- in what was, by the numbers, the greatest match-up in Big Ten Championships history -- with a new school record for the third consecutive meet.
While Ellis' bid to protect his conference crown in the hammer may have come up short, he has never thrown farther -- nor has nearly anyone in conference history. His third-round mark of 72.72m (238 feet, 7 inches) shattered his career best from two weekends ago by nearly two feet and just missed the old meet record of 72.77m (238-9) by Purdue's Chukwuebuka Enekwechi in 2015 by five centimeters.
Winkler, who transferred into the conference as a graduate student from Cornell, set the new record at 73.85m (242-3) on his second throw. Ellis responded with heaves of 72.04m (236-4) -- which would have topped the previous all-time best throw by a Big Ten runner-up (MIchael Lihrman of Wisconsin at 72.03m/236-4 in 2015) by a centimeter -- and his school-record effort.
Together, Ellis and Winkler combined to go 146.57m; Enekwechi and Lihrman posted a combined distance of only 144.80m in 2015.
This marked the first time in Ellis' career he had surpassed 72 meters multiple times in the same meet as he continues to gear up for a run at reclaiming first team All-America honors in the event come the NCAA Championships in June.
Cartwright had a career-best day in his own right, going 68.28m (224-0) to improve his personal record by more than a meter and further establish himself as a national-level contender. He unleashed his best throw of the day in the first round of the final to move up from sixth at 64.92m (213-0) to fourth where he would stay.
Beyond the nine-man final, Manning Plater had his own career-defining day with a lifetime-best 61.21m (200-10) mark to finish 14th and become the sixth man in school history to cross 200 feet in the event. As of writing, he ranked 44th in the NCAA East Region, just inside the top-48 bubble to qualify for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Tampa, Florida, in two weekends.
McLaughlin headlined the afternoon preliminary track session, running a season-best 49.93 to win his heat of the 400-meter hurdles. After cracking 51 seconds three times during the regular season, the 2016 Big Ten champ ran his best conference prelims-round time to check in at No. 2 in the field heading into the final.
He will be joined in Sunday's final by Amarteifio, who clocked a career-best 51.73 -- despite stumbling over the last hurdle -- to advance with an at-large berth as the sixth-fastest in the field.
Berry advanced out of the 1,500-meter prelims as the fastest non-automatic qualifier, clocking a career-best 3:47.11 for fourth in his heat. He was rewarded for aggressive running at the front of the pack, coming through at the bell in second place and holding on to a quick pace to earn his berth to Sunday's final.
Michigan will look to keep up the momentum on the second of three days at Big Tens on Saturday, beginning at 4:15 p.m. on the track with the 400-meter prelims and at 4:30 p.m. in the field with the shot put. Saturday finals for the Wolverines include the shot put and the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with four opportunities in preliminary events to advance to Sunday finals.
COLLEGIATE CAREER-BEST PERFORMANCES AT BIG TENS
Roland Amarteifio -- 51.73 / 400m Hurdles
Chase Barnett -- 3:48.38 / 1500m
Anthony Berry -- 3:47.11 / 1500m
Grant Cartwright -- 68.28m (224-0) / Hammer Throw
Joe Ellis -- 72.72m (238-7) / Hammer Throw
Manning Plater -- 61.21m (200-10) / Hammer Throw
FULL MICHIGAN RESULTS BY EVENT
Q = Automatic qualifier to final
q = Non-automatic qualifier to final (advanced as one of fastest non-auto qualifiers)
w = wind-aided (greater than 2.0 meter-per-second [m/s] wind; marks with wind up to 4.0m/s are allowable for NCAA Preliminaries qualifying purposes)
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100 Meters
Prelims to be contested Saturday
Final to be contested Sunday
200 Meters (Prelims)
22. Josiah Carpenter / 22.41 (-0.9m/s)
400 Meters
Prelims to be contested Saturday
Final to be contested Sunday
800 Meters
Prelims to be contested Saturday
Final to be contested Sunday
1,500 Meters (Prelims)
Final to be contested Sunday
4. Anthony Berry / 3:47.11
11. Chase Barnett / 3:48.38
5,000 Meters
Final to be contested Sunday; no prelims
10,000 Meters (Final)
1. Benjamin Flanagan / 30:23.86
5. Billy Bund / 30:36.96
10. Jacob Lee / 30:55.98
17. Isaac Harding / 31:25.97
110-Meter Hurdles
Prelims to be contested Saturday
Final to be contested Sunday
400-Meter Hurdles (Prelims)
Final to be contested Sunday
2. Taylor McLaughlin / 49.93Q
6. Roland Amarteifio / 51.73q
17. Noah Caudy / 54.08
19. Sean Marshall / 56.33
3,000-Meter Steeplechase
Final to be contested Saturday; no prelims
4x100 Relay
Final to be contested Sunday; no prelims
4x400 Relay
Final to be contested Sunday; no prelims
High Jump
Final to be contested Sunday
Pole Vault
Final to be contested Sunday
Triple Jump
Final to be contested Sunday
Shot Put
Final to be contested Saturday
Discus
Final to be contested Sunday
Hammer Throw (Final)
2. Joe Ellis / 72.72m (238-7)
4. Grant Cartwright / 68.28m (224-0)
14. Manning Plater / 61.21m (200-10)
Players Mentioned
