Wolverine Throwers Set for NCAA Indoor Championships

» Big Ten champion throwers Joe Ellis and Andrew Liskowitz will make return appearances at the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday (March 8-9) in Birmingham, Alabama.
» Ellis will go for the national title in the weight throw on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST, fresh off winning his second straight conference title in the event.
» Liskowitz is looking for Michigan's first, first team All-America honors in the indoor shot put Friday starting at 7:20 p.m. CST.

THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., March 8-9 -- NCAA Indoor Championships (Birmingham, Ala.), 7:20 p.m. CST / 2 p.m. CST
Meet Homepage | Live Results | ESPN3 Live Streams: Fri | Sat

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Big Ten Champion throwers Joe Ellis and Andrew Liskowitz of the University of Michigan men's track and field team will take on the nation's best this Friday and Saturday (March 8-9) as they close out the 2019 winter season at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama.

Two weeks after winning conference titles in Ann Arbor, Ellis and Liskowitz have NCAA titles in their sights in the weight throw and shot put, respectively, as they prepare to compete at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

Ellis, a two-time first team All-American ranked second nationally in the weight throw, is among the favorites for the title, which will be decided Saturday starting at 2 p.m. CST. Liskowitz, a returning second team All-American shot putter ranked No. 11 in the country, will compete Friday at 7:20 p.m. CST.

Those two -- the core of Michigan's self-proclaimed "Meat Factory" throws group -- continue a streak of what is now three consecutive years of multiple throwers competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Ellis has finished seventh and fifth at the past two national meets in the weight throw, and is looking to become Michigan's fourth three-time top-eight NCAA Indoor Championships finisher in any event, and the first to do it in the throws.

Liskowitz is striving to become the first Michigan man to earn first team All-America honors in the indoor shot put.

Should the pair both win NCAA titles in their respective events, it would be the first time a pair of teammates have swept the throws events since Arizona State in 2009.

Top-eight finishers earn first team All-America recognition from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). More importantly, top-eight finishers also score points for their teams in the overall standings. Event champions earn 10 points, the runner-up earns eight, third earns six, fourth earns five, fifth earns four, sixth earns three, seventh earns two and eighth earns one. The team with the most points at the end of the championships wins the team title.

Finishers ninth through 16th are awarded second team All-America honors. Those competitors who fail to record a mark, are disqualified or otherwise do not appear in their events' final standings are decreed "Honorable Mention."

ESPN3 will broadcast the NCAA Indoor Championships live, but the stream will focus primarily on the track events with intermittent field event updates. Friday's weight throw will take place before the live stream window (6:30-10:15 p.m.), but fans may catch glimpses of Liskowitz in the shot put on Saturday during the ESPN3 broadcast that begins at 5 p.m.

Fans can follow throw-by-throw live results by way of NCAA.com, and on the official social media channels of Michigan track and field.

When to Watch the Wolverines

Friday (March 8)	Event	Meet	Time (CST)
Andrew Liskowitz	Shot Put	Final	7:20 PM
Saturday (March 9)	Event	Meet	Time (CST)
Joe Ellis	Weight Throw	Final	2:00 PM

Veteran Ellis Ready for Third NCAA Indoor Championships

• The two-time Big Ten champion Ellis may enter the championships as the No. 2 seed overall at 23.56m (77 feet, 3.75 inches), but the depth of his credentials is unmatched by anyone in the field. Among the 16 qualifiers to Birmingham, only Ellis arrives as a two-time first team All-American by virtue of his fifth- and seventh-place finishes in 2018 and 2017, respectively.

• Ellis is one of five men who have surpassed 23 meters this season, tying 2017 for the most qualifiers past that distance in a single year. With such talent at the top of the field -- and that list does not include returning national champion David Lucas of Penn State, who was fourth at Big Tens -- this may be the most competitive weight throw final in meet history. Never before have more than three men thrown 23 meters or farther in the same championships.

• More than any of the other top contenders, Ellis has proven that, on average, he is more consistent and steadfast during the flow of competition. He has fouled only twice in his last four meets and has shown that he only gets stronger as the competition wears on. Below is a breakdown of the average distance of his throws for each of the six rounds in 2019 through five meets.

Round 1 (trials): 21.20m / 69-6.75
Round 2 (trials): 21.70m / 71-2.5
Round 3 (trials): 22.21m / 72-10.5
Round 4 (finals): 22.84m / 74-11.25
Round 5 (finals): 22.95m / 75-3.5
Round 6 (finals): 22.77m / 74-8.5

• His average in the finals (rounds four through six) is 22.80m (74-9.75). Among his top competition, only Denzel Comenentia (Georgia) has a higher finals average at 23.24m (76-3), though nine of his 12 final-round throws have been fouls.

• Already the school record-holder and the fifth-farthest thrower in Big Ten history in the weight throw with his 23.64m (77-6.75) heave to win Big Tens last year, Ellis is taking aim at the 24-meter mark in his final weight throw competition. In all of collegiate history, only seven men have been able to cross that barrier, and only four have done it at NCAAs.

• If he is able to finish top-eight, Ellis would join Kevin Sullivan, Nate Brannen and Jon Royce as the only Michigan men to earn three top-eight NCAA Indoor finishes in a single individual event. Sullivan did it in the mile in 1994, 1995 and 1998; Royce did it in the high jump in 1994-96; and Brannen did it in the 800 in 2003-05. Sullivan and Brannen both won two NCAA titles apiece.

• Ellis would be head coach Jerry Clayton's third three-time first team All-American weight thrower. While at Auburn he coached Cory Martin to three top-three finishes in 2005-07, and Jake Dunkleberger to top-five finishes in 2006-08.

Liskowitz Looking for National Breakthrough

• Fresh off claiming his first Big Ten title in the shot put with a new indoor school-record 19.67m (64-6.5) heave, Liskowitz will next endeavor to cross off another accomplishment from his to-do list: first team All-America. He has earned second-team honors at the past two NCAA meets -- indoors and outdoors in 2018 -- with identical 14th-place efforts. The No. 11 seed this weekend, he is on the precipice of making the eight-man cut for the first team.

• Liskowitz appears to be peaking at the right time, with his school-record throw at Big Tens capping a streak of three consecutive meets that saw him break 19 meters at least twice per competition. His regular-season finale at Vanderbilt produced five throws farther than 19 meters, including a near-school-record mark of 19.62m (64-4.5).

• Last year, it took 19.15m (62-10) in the trials -- the first three rounds of throws -- to qualify for the nine-man NCAA final from the 16-man field. Liskowitz has surpassed that number four times in his trials-round throws in 2019 and gone farther than 19 meters an additional two times.

• Should he make it through to the finals for another three throws, he has been even better, on average, in the later rounds than in the trials. While his average distance in the trial rounds has been 18.76m (61-6.75), his attempts in rounds four through six have traveled, on average, 19.10m (62-8). Among those are his school record and four of the six farthest throws of his 2019 campaign.

• A top-eight finish for first team All-America honors would make him the first Wolverine shot putter to earn that distinction indoors.