Michigan Men to Hit the Road to Boston U, Kentucky

Friday, January 24

Lexington, Ky.

5:00 PM

Michigan

Rod McCravy Memorial

Vail Hartman and Alex Schwedt (Michigan Photography)

1/22/2020 5:23:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

By: Kyle Terwillegar

• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Following two consecutive home meets to kick off the 2020 indoor season, the University of Michigan men's track and field team is on the road for the first time this year as select student-athletes compete either at Boston U. or Kentucky on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 24-25).

The Wolverines' top distance runners will take on some of the nation's best and chase sub-four-minute miles at the Boston U. John Thomas Terrier Classic on Saturday (Jan. 25), while some of the squad's best sprinters and throwers will compete Friday (Jan. 24) and Saturday at the Kentucky Rod McCravy Memorial in Lexington.

Cross country All-American Devin Meyrer and near-sub-four miler Ben Hill headline the 10-man crew heading to Beantown. Michigan's day at Boston U. begins at 3 p.m., with a live stream of the races available via Flotrack's subscription service. Live results are also available via Lancer Timing and the U-M track and field social media platforms will be providing live updates.

Michigan will be represented at Kentucky by All-American 4x400 relay members Desmond Melson, Ian Davis, Alex Schwedt and Vail Hartman; one of the nation's best hurdles corps in Josh Zeller, Roland Amarteifio, Sierra Hendrix-Williams and Job Mayhue; and breakthrough weight thrower Manning Plater.

Portions of the meet will be streamed live on the SEC Network+ digital platform, including Friday starting at 5:08 p.m. and Saturday starting at 12:38 p.m. Live results also will be available via Primetime Timing and the U-M track and field social media platforms will be providing live updates.

Breaking Four Minutes in Beantown

Hill will lead a pack of six Wolverines in pursuit of their first-ever sub-four-minute miles on the historically fast oval at the Boston U. Track and Tennis Center.

With a 4:01.76 mile to his name from last year's edition of the meet, Hill has been pegged by Flotrack among the top men nationally who could go sub-four for the first times in their careers in 2020.

Saturday also will be the collegiate mile debut for Nick Foster, who was the nation's top-ranked high school miler in 2019. Foster won the Brooks PR Invitational title with an outdoor 4:03.11 personal record last summer.

If he manages to go sub-four, he would join his coach Kevin Sullivan as the only freshmen in program history to break that barrier. Sullivan went 3:58.00 at the Meyo Invitational in 1994.

Also looking for quick mile times are multiple-time Big Ten Championships scorer Anthony Berry, Simmons-Harvey Invitational 800-meter winner Cole Johnson, Derrick Simmons and Thomas Shilgalis.

The Wolverines have a history of cracking the four-minute barrier for the mile in the city of Boston, dating back to the mid-2000s.

It was at the 2005 Boston Indoor Games where Brannen clocked a blistering 3:55.11 to finish fifth in the elite race and come within hundredths of a second of breaking the then-31-year-old collegiate mile record -- North Carolina miler Tony Waldrop's hand-timed 3:55.0 from 1974. Brannen's performance still ranks him as the eighth-fastest man in collegiate history.

At the same meet the following year, it was teammate and fellow Canadian Mike Woods' turn to shine. Woods crossed the line in 3:57.87, a performance that is surpassed in Michigan history by only Olympians Brannen, Sullivan and Willis.

Fast-forward 11 years to the 2017 Boston U. John Thomas Terrier Classic, where the trio of Ned Willig, Will Sheeran and Connor Mora ran one of the greatest mile races in Michigan history. Willig crossed in 3:58.09, followed by Sheeran in 3:59.15 and Mora in 3:59.36, marking the first time three U-M men had broken four minutes in the same race. Only once before had even two men simultaneously crossed that threshold, in 1994 when both Sullivan and Scott MacDonald cracked into the threes at the Meyo Invitational.

Below is the full list of sub-four-minute miles in program history, with performances achieved in Boston bolded.

Rank*	Name	Time	Meet	Date
1, 1	Brannen, Nate	3:55.11	Boston Indoor Games	1/29/2005
2, 2	Sullivan, Kevin	3:55.33	NCAA Championships	3/11/1995
x, 3	Sullivan, Kevin	3:55.90	Meyo Invitational	2/4/1995
x, 4	Sullivan, Kevin	3:56.08	Meyo Invitational	2/7/1998
3, 5	Willis, Nick	3:56.55	Meyo Invitational	2/7/2004
4, 6	Woods, Mike	3:57.87	Boston Indoor Games	1/28/2006
x, 7	Brannen, Nate	3:57.96	Meyo Invitational	2/8/2003
x, 8	Sullivan, Kevin	3:58.00	Meyo Invitational	2/5/1994
x, 9	Willis, Nick	3:58.07	Silverston Invitational	2/19/2005
5, 10	Willig, Ned	3:58.09	John Thomas Terrier Invitational	1/27/2017
x, 11	Willis, Nick	3:58.15	Meyo Invitational	2/8/2003
x, 12	Brannen, Nate	3:58.55	Meyo Invitational	2/7/2004
6, 13	Switzer, Justin	3:58.86	Meyo Invitational	2/6/2009
7, 14	Sheeran, William	3:59.15	John Thomas Terrier Invitational	1/27/2017
8, 15	Mora, Connor	3:59.36	John Thomas Terrier Invitational	1/27/2017
9, 16	MacDonald, Scott	3:59.40	Meyo Invitational	2/5/1994
x, 17	Brannen, Nate	3:59.50	Tyson Invitational	2/11/2005
10, 18	Cantin, Jay	3:59.90	Meyo Invitational	2/5/2000
11, 19	Diemer, Brian	3:59.93	Michigan vs. Michigan State	2/12/1983

* KEY = (All-Time U-M Performers Rank), (All-Time U-M Performances Rank); "x" denotes that there exists a superior performance by that athlete

Meyrer -- along with teammates Gabe Mudel and Jacob Lee -- will race the 3,000-meter distance at 5 p.m. Set to make his 2020 track debut after an All-American cross country season, Meyrer could be in line for a historically quick time of his own.

Only 17 men in school history have dipped below 8:00 in the event, with Meyrer chief among the candidates to join that list this weekend. His personal record of 8:20.84 from 2018 is ripe for an update, especially considering the prowess he demonstrated in a 16th-place NCAA Championships finish.

Joost Plaetinck, fresh off a win over 3,000 meters at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, will run the 5,000 meters at 6:15 p.m.

Hurdlers, Sprinters and Plater at Kentucky

The group of men heading to the Rod McCravy Memorial on Friday and Saturday are looking to bolster their status among the nation's best in their respective events.

Friday will see the hurdles quartet of Zeller, Amarteifio, Hendrix-Williams and Mayhue in action together for the first time this season, starting with the 5 p.m. preliminaries.

With a scintillating 7.90 debut to win the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, the true freshman Zeller tied Amarteifio for No. 2 in school history. Amarteifio will be making his 2020 debut in the event on Friday. Hendrix-Williams and Mayhue -- Nos. 9 and 11 in school history, respectively -- will look to go sub-8.00 for the first time this season.

The program record for the number of men to run faster than 8.00 in a single meet is three, with Amarteifio, Hendrix-Williams and Mayhue all doing so at Big Tens a year ago.

Should they advance through the first round, they would contest the semifinals on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and potentially the final at 1:55 p.m.

At approximately the same time as the hurdle prelims on Friday, Plater will enter the ring for his first weight throw competition as a bonafide NCAA All-America contender in the event. He launched a massive 21.81m (71 feet, 6.75 inches) mark to win the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, and ended up with three of the weekend's four farthest throws among NCAA competitors.

The members of the All-American relay team will compete individually throughout the weekend before teaming up for the meet-finale 4x400 on Saturday at 3:45 p.m.

Schwedt will race Friday at 5:25 p.m. in the 600 meters, while Davis, Hartman and Melson will all contest the 400 meters on Saturday at 1:55 p.m.

Wolverine Bites

• The Wolverines, led by head coaches Jerry Clayton and James Henry, will enter the season ranked No. 44 nationally in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Preseason National Track and Field Rating Index (TFRI).

• The Wolverines finished eighth at the 2019 Big Ten Indoor Championships, scoring 52 points. With defending shot put champion Andrew Liskowitz leading nine more returning individual scorers from a year ago, the Wolverines put 34 of those points back on the board in 2020. The Wolverines' relay teams -- 4x400 and distance medley -- also scored seven points, with the 4x4 squad having earned outdoor second team All-America honors since last winter. Both teams return three of four members from their 2019 Big Ten roster, with many additional parts to fill the voids.

• Returning All-Americans; Liskowitz (indoor and outdoor shot put); the quartet of Desmond Melson, Ian Davis, Alex Schwedt and Vail Hartman (outdoor 4x400 relay); Jack Aho and Devin Meyrer (cross country)

• Returning Big Ten Indoor Championships scorers: Aho (3,000 meters); Roland Amarteifio (60-meter hurdles); Anthony Berry (800 meters); Daniel Butael (triple jump); Asani Hampton (60 meters); Sierra Hendrix-Williams (60-meter hurdles); Ben Hill (mile); Will Landowne (3,000 meters); Liskowitz (shot put champion); and Job Mayhue (60-meter hurdles)

• Current school record-holders: Liskowitz (indoor and outdoor shot put)

• Liskowitz will make his 2020 debut on Saturday, beginning his journey toward Big Ten, NCAA and potentially Olympic accomplishments in his final year at Michigan. After an incendiary 2019 summer campaign, the reigning Big Ten Indoor shot put champion has already reached the qualifying standard for the Tokyo Olympics.

Michigan Student-Athletes Ranked Top-50 Nationally in Their Events

Name	Event	Rank
Cole Johnson	800m	12
Nick Foster	800m	20
Derrick Simmons	800m	24
Ben Hill	600m	25
Thomas Shilgalis	Shot Put	26
Josh Zeller	60H	29
Andrew Liskowitz	Shot Put	3
John Meyer	Shot Put	17
Manning Plater	Weight Throw	2
Alex Schwedt	Shot Put	47
Cole Johnson	Shot Put	50

Michigan Student-Athletes Ranked Top-10 in the Big Ten in Their Events

Name	Event	Rank
Asani Hampton	60m	9
Cole Johnson	800m	5
Nick Foster	800m	8
Josh Zeller	60H	3
Sierra Hendrix-Williams	60H	8
4 x 400m Relay		8
Max Wagner	High Jump	6
Andrew Liskowitz	Shot Put	1
John Meyer	Shot Put	5
Manning Plater	Weight Throw	1

When to Watch the Wolverines

Friday Competitors
Name	Event	Round	Time (ET)	Meet
Roland Amarteifio	60 meter hurdles	Prelims	5:00 PM	Kentucky
Sierra Hendrix-Williams	60 meter hurdles	Prelims	5:00 PM	Kentucky
Job Mayhue	60 meter hurdles	Prelims	5:00 PM	Kentucky
Josh Zeller	60 meter hurdles	Prelims	5:00 PM	Kentucky
Manning Plater	Weight Throw	Final	5:00 PM	Kentucky
Alex Schwedt	600 meter run	Final	5:25 PM	Kentucky

Saturday Competitors
Name	Event	Round	Time (ET)	Meet
Roland Amarteifio	60 meter hurdles	Semifinals	12:30 PM	Kentucky
Sierra Hendrix-Williams	60 meter hurdles	Semifinals	12:30 PM	Kentucky
Job Mayhue	60 meter hurdles	Semifinals	12:30 PM	Kentucky
Josh Zeller	60 meter hurdles	Semifinals	12:30 PM	Kentucky
Roland Amarteifio	60 meter hurdles	Final	1:25 PM	Kentucky
Sierra Hendrix-Williams	60 meter hurdles	Final	1:25 PM	Kentucky
Job Mayhue	60 meter hurdles	Final	1:25 PM	Kentucky
Josh Zeller	60 meter hurdles	Final	1:25 PM	Kentucky
Roland Amarteifio	400 meter dash	Final	1:55 PM	Kentucky
Ian Davis	400 meter dash	Final	1:55 PM	Kentucky
Vail Hartman	400 meter dash	Final	1:55 PM	Kentucky
Desmond Melson	400 meter dash	Final	1:55 PM	Kentucky
Anthony Berry	Mile	Final	3:00 PM	Boston U.
Nick Foster	Mile	Final	3:00 PM	Boston U.
Ben Hill	Mile	Final	3:00 PM	Boston U.
Cole Johnson	Mile	Final	3:00 PM	Boston U.
Thomas Shilgalis	Mile	Final	3:00 PM	Boston U.
Derrick Simmons	Mile	Final	3:00 PM	Boston U.
Michigan A	4x400 relay	Final	3:45 PM	Kentucky
Jacob Lee	3000 meter run	Final	5:05 PM	Boston U.
Devin Meyrer	3000 meter run	Final	5:05 PM	Boston U.
Gabe Mudel	3000 meter run	Final	5:05 PM	Boston U.
Joost Plaetinck	5000 meter run	Final	6:15 PM	Boston U.