Michigan
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Plater Earns Weight Throw Bronze on Day One of Big Tens
2/28/2020 8:41:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Geneva, Ohio (SPIRE Institute)
Event: Big Ten Indoor Championships (Day 1 of 2)
U-M Result: 9th of 12 teams (6 points)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 28 (Day Two of Big Ten Indoor Championships)
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
GENEVA, Ohio -- With a bronze medal and numerous tickets to Saturday's finals punched, the University of Michigan men's track and field team got off to a solid start Friday on the first day of the Big Ten Indoor Championships at the SPIRE Institute.
Manning Plater earned the bronze in the weight throw with another come-from-behind effort in what has become his signature event in 2020, while the hurdles trio of Roland Amarteifio, Josh Zeller and Job Mayhue were in top form to lead six qualifiers into Saturday's track finals from Friday's preliminary rounds.
With Plater's six points from his third-place showing in the weight, Michigan closed out the first day of action with six points in the team standings, good for ninth after just five of 18 events scored. Indiana leads the team standings with 48.5 points.
Plater heaved a career-best 21.97m (72 feet, 1 inch) mark in the weight throw, making Friday the latest confirmation of his arrival as a national weight-throw contender.
The junior progressively improved as the meet went on, entering the finals in fifth place and getting his best of the day in the fifth round to move up to second. He was ultimately overtaken by just one of his opponents in the final round-and-a-half.
This marks the fourth-straight year the Wolverines have medaled in the weight throw at the conference meet.
For the second year in a row, three Michigan men will be competing in the 60-meter hurdles final as Amarteifio, Zeller and Mayhue qualified for Saturday's title race.
Amarteifio and Zeller made history as the first Michigan teammates to run faster than 7.90 seconds in the same meet. Zeller led off with a career-best-tying 7.86 for second place in the second of three heats, followed one race later by an outright career-best 7.85 for Amarteifio to win heat three.
The pair is now ranked second and third in school history in the 60-meter hurdles.
In Zeller's race, Mayhue clocked a season-best 7.99 to tie him for ninth overall. With only nine men slated to make the final, officials attempted to break the tie between Mayhue and Illinois' Bret Dannis, but the two men were tied down to the thousandths of a second at 7.987 and a clear break could not be made. Officials decided to advance both Mayhue and Dannis to the final.
Saturday's final will set up as a showdown between three of the nation's best hurdles corps in Michigan, Iowa and Nebraska. The Hawkeyes, who also advanced three men to the final, are ranked No. 2 nationally in the USTFCCCA Event Squad rankings, with Michigan tied for No. 5 and No. 8. Nebraska have two entries in the final.
Amarteifio was not the only Michigan sprinter moving up in the record books. In the 400-meter preliminary round, Ian Davis ran a career-best 47.00 to finish sixth overall and book a trip to the finals after coming in ranked outside the top 10.
Not only was the performance an improvement on his previous best by 0.78 seconds, it was enough to boost him from a tie for No. 10 in school history to No. 4.
Michigan's other two finals qualifiers came from the mile, where Ben Hill advanced to the title race for the second year in a row and Cole Johnson joined him as a first-time finalist.
Hill emerged from a blanked finish in his heat of the mile safely with a fourth-place showing in his heat in 4:09.17, while Johnson was the top non-automatic qualifier on time with his 4:08.62 in fifth in his heat.
Friday also marked the first of two days in the heptathlon, with freshmen Mason Mahacek and Heath Baldwin in strong position to potentially finish top-eight and score in their postseason debuts.
Baldwin is sixth through four of seven events, with Mahacek sitting in eighth. Baldwin scored collegiate career-bests in the long jump, shot put and high jump -- taking the top mark of the day at 2.09m (6-10.25) in the latter -- while Mahacek recorded a PR in the shot put and high jump.
Based on the remaining events and the duo's respective strengths, Mahacek is currently projected to take eighth and Baldwin ninth, though anything can happen on what is always an unpredictable slate of events in the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run.
The heptathlon will resume Saturday (Feb. 29) at 11 a.m., with track finals beginning at 12:55 p.m. and field events at 1 p.m.
Michigan Collegiate Career-Best Performances
Career debuts not included
Roland Amarteifio -- 7.85 / 60m Hurdles (I)
Heath Baldwin -- 6.72m (22-0.5) / Long Jump (I)
Heath Baldwin -- 12.75m (41-10) / Shot Put (I)
Heath Baldwin -- 2.09m (6-10.25) / High Jump (I)
Ian Davis -- 47.00 / 400m (I)
Mason Mahacek -- 2.03m (6-8) / High Jump (I)
Mason Mahacek -- 11.26m (36-11.25) / Shot Put (I)
Job Mayhue -- 7.99 / 60m Hurdles (I)
Manning Plater -- 21.97m (72-1) / Weight Throw (I)
Josh Zeller -- 7.86 / 60m Hurdles (I)
Michigan Results by Event
Q = Automatic qualifier into final based on place; q = non-automatic qualifier into final based on time
60 Meters
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
16. Asani Hampton / 6.88
400 Meters
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
6. Ian Davis / 47.00q
17. Desmond Melson / 48.79
--. Vail Hartman / DNF
600 Meters
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
11. Alex Schwedt / 1:19.52
800 Meters
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
11. Anthony Berry / 1:53.29
Mile
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
6. Ben Hill / 4:09.17Q
9. Cole Johnson / 4:08.62q
15. Nick Foster / 4:14.49
3,000 Meters
11. Isaac Harding / 8:22.09
19. Colton Yesney / 8:34.71
20. Will Landowne / 8:35.22
21. Gabe Mudel / 8:36.83
5,000 Meters
Final to be contested Saturday
60-Meter Hurdles
Prelims (Final to be contested Saturday)
3. Roland Amarteifio / 7.85Q
6. Josh Zeller / 7.86Q
t-9. Job Mayhue / 7.99q
12. Sierra Hendrix-Williams / 8.03
4x400 Relay
To be contested Saturday
Distance Medley Relay
9. Foster, Melson, Simmons, Berry / 9:50.94
High Jump
To be contested Saturday
Triple Jump
To be contested Saturday
Shot Put
To be contested Saturday
Weight Throw
3. Manning Plater / 21.97m (72-1)
Heptathlon (Through 4 of 7 events)
60 Meters
11. Mason Mahacek / 7.24 (799 points)
14. Heath Baldwin / 7.37 (755 points)
Long Jump
7. Heath Baldwin / 6.72m (22-0.5) (822 points)
7. Mason Mahacek / 6.72m (22-0.5) (767 points)
Shot Put
6. Heath Baldwin / 12.75m (41-10) (652 points)
11. Mason Mahacek / 11.26m (36-11.25) (562 points)
High Jump
1. Heath Baldwin / 2.09m (6-10.25) (887 points)
3. Mason Mahacek / 2.03m (6-8) (831 points)
60 Meter Hurdles (To be contested Saturday)
Pole Vault (To be contested Saturday)
1,000 Meters (To be contested Saturday)
Players Mentioned
