Michigan
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Victorious Ellis Headlines Day One at Big Tens for Michigan Men
2/22/2019 9:55:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (U-M Indoor Track Building)
Event: Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships (Day 1 of 2)
U-M Standing: 5th place of 12 teams (18 points) after Day 1
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 23 -- Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships (U-M Indoor Track Building), 10 a.m.
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
• Saturday Heat Sheet (PDF) | Meet Central
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Joe Ellis' defense of his weight throw title jump-started the University of Michigan men's track and field team's first day of action at the 2019 Big Ten Indoor Championships on Friday (Feb. 22), hosted at the U-M Indoor Track Building.
By virtue of Ellis' victory, a come-from-behind fourth-place finish in the distance medley relay, and a pair of scoring efforts at 3,000 meters, the Wolverines closed out the first of two days of action in fifth place with 18 points.
Ellis accounted for 10 of those points with the win, with five more coming from the DMR quartet of Ryan WIlkie, Alex Schwedt, Derrick Simmons and Cole Johnson. The final three were poured in by late-race kicks by seventh- and eighth-place 3,000-meter finishers Will Landowne and Jack Aho, respectively.
Michigan is well positioned for a strong Saturday (Feb. 23) run toward the top of the team standings as they advanced nine qualifiers -- including three in the 60-meter hurdles alone -- through to the finals from Friday's preliminary rounds. Those nine join strong Wolverine entries in the heptathlon, shot put, triple jump, 5,000 meters and 4x400 relay that have yet to be decided.
Saturday's action will begin at 10 a.m. with the continuation of the heptathlon, featuring seventh-place competitor Jack Lint.
Ellis was the story of the day as he was head-and-shoulders better than the rest of the conference in his defense of the title he won in 2018.
His winning throw of 23.46m (76 feet, 11.75 inches) was nearly six feet farther than the best throw by runner-up Morgan Shigo of Penn State, and four of his six throws would have been good enough to prevail over the Nittany Lion.
Though he led virtually wire-to-wire, he really sealed the victory with a penultimate throw of 23.21m (76-1.75). To put an exclamation point on the performance, he followed that up with what would be his best throw of the day on his final attempt.
The performance was also a new facility record for Ellis.
Teammate Manning Plater just missed the nine-man final with a 10th-place effort.
The next-biggest haul of points came in the final men's event of the day as the DMR crew took fifth. After 1,600-meter anchor Cole Johnson briefly fell to sixth before rallying back on the final lap to kick home for fourth -- and two more crucial points in the team standings.
Landowne and Aho chipped in three more points for Michigan with seventh- and eighth-place runs in 8:30.38 and 8:30.62, respectively. Aho ran from the front for much of the race, even briefly taking the lead in the final kilometer, before starting to fade back through the pack as the lead pack picked up steam. He was ultimately bypassed by a hard-charging Landowne with less than a quarter-mile to go, and chased his teammate down the homestretch to make sure they both put points on the board.
From among Michigan's qualifying performance, perhaps none was more impressive than the trio of Roland Amarteifio, Sierra Hendrix-Williams and Job Mayhue in the 60-meter hurdles.
With career-best times of 7.90, 7.96 and 7.99, respectively -- making Michigan and Iowa the only teams with three qualifiers into Saturday's 1:15 p.m. final -- this marked the first time in school history three men had broken eight seconds in the same competition.
Amarteifio's run was the third-fastest of the day and moved him to a tie for No. 2 in school history in the event, while Hendrix-Williams was sixth-fastest on the day as he moved up to sole possession of No. 8 in school history. Mayhue moved up to No. 10 in school history as Friday's seventh-fastest qualifier.
Michigan also moved multiple men through to Saturday's final in the mile as Ben Hill and Chase Barnett both survived and advanced, and at 400 meters where both Taylor McLaughlin and Desmond Melson had different journeys to Saturday.
Hill, who clocked 4:05.75, kicked in fast on the final lap and was beaten to the line in his heat by only NCAA leader Oliver Hoare of Wisconsin, earned an automatic berth to Saturday's 2:15 p.m. final as a top-two heat finisher.
Barnett, who ran 4:05.92, was fifth in what was ultimately the most competitive heat of the day to secure one of four at-large qualification berths to the final.
In the 400 meters, McLaughlin had a straightforward path to Saturday's 2:35 p.m. final as the sixth-fastest man in 47.67 -- marking his fourth-consecutive appearance in this final. Melson was advanced by the referees into an addition section of the final after he and two others were obstructed by a fall by the leader in their heat coming around the turn off the bell.
They were joined in the mid-distance finals by 2018 mile finalist Anthony Berry, who this year advanced in the 800 meters. His career-best 1:50.90 performance as the last man into the eight-man final is surpassed by only 10 other men in school history.
Only one freshman in program history has ever run faster than sprinter Asani Hampton at 60 meters -- that would be multiple-time scorer Khoury Crenshaw -- and the gap between them got just a bit smaller on Friday. Hampton clocked 6.76 to finish sixth in the prelims and among the eight qualifiers to Saturday's 1:35 p.m. final.
He now trails Crenshaw by just .01 for the Michigan freshman record, with one last chance at it on Saturday.
Just missing the final at 600 meters was Schwedt, whose 1:19.23 career-best for the heat win put him just .14 away from making the final.
Collegiate Career-Best Performances
Career debuts not included
Roland Amarteifio -- 7.90 / 60m Hurdles (I)
Anthony Berry -- 1:50.90 / 800m (I)
Ian Davis -- 47.84 / 400m (I)
Asani Hampton -- 6.76 / 60m (I)
Sierra Hendrix-Williams -- 7.96 / 60m Hurdles (I)
Job Mayhue -- 7.99 / 60m Hurdles (I)
Alex Schwedt -- 1:19.23 / 600m (I)
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = Automatic qualifier into final; q = non-automatic qualifier into final
60 Meters
PRELIMS
6. Asani Hampton / 6.76
15. Desmond Nicholas / 6.92
400 Meters
PRELIMS
6. Taylor McLaughlin / 47.67
10. Ian Davis / 47.84
21. Desmond Melson / 49.63
600 Meters
PRELIMS
11. Alex Schwedt / 1:19.23
800 Meters
PRELIMS
8. Anthony Berry / 1:50.90
Mile
PRELIMS
5. Ben Hill / 4:05.75
9. Chase Barnett / 4:05.92
19. Ryan Wilkie / 4:14.31
21. Andrew Lorant / 4:15.33
3,000 Meters
7. Will Landowne / 8:30.38
8. Jack Aho / 8:30.62
14. Gabe Mudel / 8:35.78
15. Christian Hubaker / 8:35.98
5,000 Meters
(Contested Saturday)
60-Meter Hurdles
PRELIMS (Contested Friday)
2. Roland Amarteifio / 7.90
6. Sierra Hendrix-Williams / 7.96
7. Job Mayhue / 7.99
17. Noah Caudy / 8.32
4x400 Relay
(Contested Saturday)
Distance Medley Relay
4. Wilkie, Schwedt, Simmons, Johnson / 9:50.83
High Jump
9. Max Wagner / 2.03m (6-08)
11. Cassidy Henshaw / J2.03m (6-08)
--. Brandon Piwinski / NH
Triple Jump
(Contested Saturday)
Shot Put
(Contested Saturday)
Weight Throw
1. Joe Ellis / 23.46m (76-11.75)
10. Manning Plater / 19.46m (63-10.25)
Heptathlon (Overall)
(Continues on Saturday)
7. Jack Lint / 2,915 points (Day One)
60 meter dash - 7.17 ( points)
Long Jump - 6.92m (22-8.5) (795 points)
Shot Put - 13.33m (43-09) (687 points)
High Jump - 1.78m (5-10) (610 points)
60 meter hurdles (to be contested Saturday)
Pole Vault (to be contested Saturday)
1000 meter run (to be contested Saturday)
Players Mentioned
