Michigan
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Meyer, Foster Medal on Final Day of Big Tens as U-M Takes Seventh
2/27/2021 2:26:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Geneva, Ohio (SPIRE Institute)
Event: Big Ten Indoor Championships (Day 3 of 3)
U-M Team Finish: 7th place of 12 teams (52 points)
Next U-M Event: March 11-13 -- at NCAA Indoor Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.)
GENEVA, Ohio -- The University of Michigan men's track and field team earned a pair of individual medals among nine scoring performances on the final day of the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Saturday (Feb. 27) at the SPIRE Institute as the Wolverines finished seventh in the team standings.
Shot putter John Meyer and miler Nick Foster claimed silver and bronze medals, respectively, to lead Michigan in a balance scoring output on Saturday that featured top-eight finishes in six different events.
Two of those scoring performances came in an unusual and historic 5,000-meter competition from Devin Meyrer in fourth and Tom Brady in fifth, and two more emerged from a dramatic 60-meter hurdles final from Josh Zeller in fifth and Ayden Owens in eighth. Foster was also joined as a scorer in the mile by sixth-place Tom Dodd.
The quartet of Austin Lin, Dubem Amene, Cole Johnson and Vail Hartman combined for a sixth-place finish in the 4x400 relay, and Cassidy Henshaw took eighth in the high jump competition.
Those scoring performances joined the fourth-and-fifth-place heptathlon duo of Heath Baldwin and Mason Mahacek, a fourth-place distance medley relay finish, and a seventh-place effort from Foster from earlier in the week.
Meyer's runner-up shot put performance came in career-best fashion as he heaved a 19.90m (65-3.5) bomb in the fifth of six rounds -- an improvement of 58 centimeters over his personal record entering the weekend.
It was one of four times he surpassed 19 meters on the day, and one of three he eclipsed his previous PR. The timing for the best series of his career was perfect, as it earned him his first career Big Ten medal and put him closer to punching his first trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships.
On the all-time Michigan list, he now ranks second only to teammate Andrew Liskowitz, who only has outdoor eligibility remaining.
Michigan's other medal came on the track in the mile. After Foster (3,000 meters) and Dodd (distance medley relay) scored on the meet's opening day, they both doubled back in the mile to garner points for the Wolverines on its closing day.
Foster came within a third of a second of the win, crossing the line in 4:05.75. Foster battled to the line with winner Owen Hoeft of Minnesota in 4:05.45 and Nebraska's George Kusche in 4:05.46.
The finish was so close that each of the top six finishers were within 1.5 seconds of the win, including sixth-place Dodd. The transfer from the United Kingdom was among that group with a 4:06.90 performance.
Foster garnered six points for the Wolverines with his finish, in addition to three for Dodd.
The Wolverines also notched nine points at 5,000 meters, but it required significant career bests and a bit of Michigan history.
Without a 5,000-meter performance to his credit in 2021, Jacob Lee was relegated to the unseeded section at Big Ten Championships but made the most of it. With athletes from Illinois and Wisconsin pushing the pace in a bid to factor into the scoring, Lee crushed his personal record by nearly 20 seconds as he clocked 13:56.12 for third in the section. That moved him all the way up to No. 10 in school history, for the time being.
That torrid pace in the unseeded section forced the seeded section into a hot pace, and both Meyrer and Brady were up to the task. Both men ran up front throughout the race, with Meyrer moving to the front of the six-man lead group with just over a quarter mile to go. Though he could not match the subsequent move from his opponents, he held on to take fourth in 13:46.68 with Brady right behind him in 13:48.66 for fifth.
Lee ultimately missed the scoring by about four seconds in ninth overall.
Meyrer slashed more than six seconds off his previous personal best to move to No. 3 in school history indoors, while Brady ripped off 15 seconds from his PR to move to No. 7. Lee's stint in the top 10 came to an end, as he was bumped down to No. 11.
It marked the first time in school history that three Michigan men cracked the 14-minute barrier in the same competition, and it was just the second time in school history that two men achieved that feat.
Michigan nearly had another big points haul by teammates in the 60-meter hurdles in, again, a photo finish, but disaster struck at the worst possible time. Contending for the win with only one hurdle left, Owens clipped the last barrier and was sent stumbling to the ground. He crossed the line in eighth for one point in the team standings.
As he rolled down the track just meters from the finish, the rest of the field all crossed the line so closely that it took several minutes to sort out the finish.
When the dust had settled, Zeller -- who had surged over the last few hurdles -- crossed the line in a career-best 7.82 for fifth place and four points. Just .02 of a second separated Zeller from winner Sincere Rhea of Penn State, and just .002 of a second stood between him and third place.
Zeller now stands alone at No. 2 in school history in the event as just a sophomore, having scored in both of his appearances at Big Tens. He was seventh a year ago.
Select members of the team will now turn their attention toward potentially qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. In the meantime, the cross country team will have its lone regular-season competition at Florida State on March 5 with the hopes of doing enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships on March 15 in Stillwater, Okla.
Full cumulative results from all three days of competition can be found below.
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to final; q = at-large qualifier to final
400 meter dash
Prelims
10. Austin Lin / 48.15
800 meter run
Prelims
5. Cole Johnson / 1:50.10 [New PR]
10. Thomas Shilgalis / 1:51.45 [New PR]
14. Derrick Simmons / 1:52.34
Mile
Final
3. Nick Foster / 4:05.75
6. Tom Dodd / 4:06.95
Prelims
4. Nick Foster / 4:03.61Q [New PR]
7. Tom Dodd / 4:04.52q
23. Anthony Berry / 4:25.94
3000 meter run
Final
7. Nick Foster / 8:06.55
10. Devin Meyrer / 8:08.17
11. Christian Hubaker / 8:08.98
13. Tom Brady / 8:12.19
23. Austin Remick / 8:22.70
5000 meter run
Final
4. Devin Meyrer / 13:46.68 [New PR]
5. Tom Brady / 13:48.66 [New PR]
9. Jacob Lee / 13:56.12 [New PR]
26. Jacob Branch / 14:38.37
30. James Gedris / 15:08.33
60 meter hurdles
Final
5. Josh Zeller / 7.82 [New PR]
8. Ayden Owens / 8.45
Prelims
3. Ayden Owens / 7.88Q
4. Josh Zeller / 7.85q [New PR]
13. Job Mayhue / 8.22
4x400 relay
Final
6. Dubem Amene, Cole Johnson, Vail Hartman Austin Lin / 3:11.78
Distance Medley Relay
Final
4. Simmons, Amene, Shilgalis, Dodd / 9:38.14
High Jump
Final
8. Cassidy Henshaw / 2.05m (6-8.75)
9. Heath Baldwin / 2.00m (6-6.75)
Pole Vault
Final
16. Mason Mahacek / 4.70m (15-5)
16. Henry Sheldon / 4.70m (15-5)
Shot Put
Final
2. John Meyer / 19.90m (65-3.5) [New PR]
Weight Throw
Final
18. Eli Winter / 17.51m (57-5.25)
Heptathlon
Final
4. Heath Baldwin / 5,568 points [New PR]
60 meters / 7.26 [New PR] / 792 pts
Long Jump / 6.71m (22-0.25) / 746
Shot Put / 13.80m (45-3.25) / 716
High Jump / 2.06m (6-9) / 859
60 meter hurdles / 8.24 / 922
Pole Vault / 4.35m (14-3.25) / 716
1,000 meters / 2:45.11 [New PR] / 817
5. Mason Mahacek / 5,399 points [New PR]
60 meters / 7.22 / 806 pts
Long Jump / 6.61m (21-8.25) / 723
Shot Put / 11.37m (37-3.75) / 568
High Jump / 2.03m (6-8) [New PR] / 831
60 meter hurdles / 8.92 [New PR] / 764
Pole Vault / 4.85m (15-11) [New PR] / 865
1,000 meters / 2:42.81 / 842
Players Mentioned
