Current, Former Wolverines to Compete at USATF Championships
7/23/2019 3:13:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- One current and six former University of Michigan track and field athletes will compete against the nation's best at the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, from Thursday through Sunday (July 25-28).
Current Wolverine standout shot putter Andrew Liskowitz returns to action after winning silver at the World University Games earlier this month, to be joined by alums Steven Bastien (decathlon), Grant Cartwright (hammer throw), Amanda Eccleston (1,500 meters), Mason Ferlic (3,000-meter steeplechase), Kira Garry (3,000-meter steeplechase) and Shannon Osika (1,500 meters).
Those seven will be competing for berths to the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, from Sept. 28-Oct. 6.
The top three in each event who have achieved the IAAF qualifying standard for that particular event earn the right to represent Team USA in Doha. Presently, Liskowitz, Ferlic and Osika have achieved their respective standards and need only finish top-three to clinch their Doha roster spots. Bastien, Cartwright, Eccleston and Garry will need to achieve their standards this weekend and be among the top three finishers.
Liskowitz has momentum on his side, after he set a new school record and earned a global medal in his last two outings. His record 21.15m (69 feet, 4.75 inches) heave from the Michigan Throws Tune-Up ranks him eighth in the field. He will go up against some of the world's best -- including reigning Olympic champion Ryan Crouser, multi-time global medalist Joe Kovacs and reigning USATF champion Darrell Hill on Friday (July 26) at 6:10 p.m. CDT.
Notably, Liskowitz has a head-to-head win over Kovacs this year from the Virginia Challenge in April.
His competition takes place during the 6-8 p.m. CDT television broadcast window on NBCSN.
Ferlic, the 2016 NCAA steeplechase champion, begins his pursuit of a Team USA berth Thursday night (July 25) at 8:21 p.m. CDT in the first round. Should he advance, he would contest the final Saturday (July 27) at 3:54 p.m. CDT. Ferlic has the sixth-fastest time in a more wide-open field this year, with seven-time defending champion Evan Jager on the sidelines.
Osika and Eccleston -- both of whom previously have missed making Team USA by fractions of a second -- will look to go in the 1,500 this summer. Ranked 13th and 22nd, respectively, in a deep field, Osika and Eccelston will race the first round Thursday (July 25) at 5:30 p.m. CDT with an eye on making the final Saturday (July 27) at 3:42 p.m. CDT.
Should they advance to their respective finals, those races will be part of the NBC national broadcast window from 3-5 p.m. CDT.
Bastien, the Michigan record-holder in the decathlon, gets underway in his 10-event gauntlet on Thursday (July 25) at 2:45 p.m. CDT. He resumes day two on Friday (July 26) at 12:30 p.m. CDT with an estimated finish at 6:46 p.m. CDT. Entering as the No. 5 seed with a best of 7,980 points in the qualifying period, he will need a big couple days to reach the 8,200-point qualifying threshold.
Cartwright, the 2017 NCAA runner-up in the indoor weight throw, will compete in the outdoor analogue hammer throw on Friday (July 26) at 4 p.m. CDT. The 2018 Michigan graduate most recently threw a career-best 68.76m (225-7) in late June for the No. 16 seed in the field. The IAAF World Championships qualifying standard for the event is 76.00m (249-4).
Garry will run the 3,000-meter steeplechase first round on Friday (July 26) at 4:57 p.m. CDT with the hope of qualifying for the final on Sunday (July 28) at 6:09 p.m. CDT, which would be carried live on NBCSN.
The decathlon events and preliminaries can be watched on the NBC Gold subscription service.
Players Mentioned
