Michigan
NCAA East Preliminaries
Michigan Ready to Battle for Nationals Berths at NCAA East Prelims
5/24/2021 4:35:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
NCAA East Preliminary Rounds (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Meet Central
Wednesday, May 26 -- Day 1, 3 p.m.
TV: UNF Ospreys Sports | Live Results | Live Video
Friday, May 28 -- Day 2, 1 p.m.
TV: UNF Ospreys Sports | Live Results | Live Video
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The national No. 23 University of Michigan men's track and field team will embark on the NCAA postseason this Wednesday and Friday (May 26 and 28) at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Jacksonville, Fla., where berths to nationals will be on the line.
Surviving and advancing will be the name of the game for the Wolverines' 20 entries set to compete at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium, as they look to join decathletes Ayden Owens and Heath Baldwin as qualifiers to the NCAA Outdoor Championships to be held June 9-12 in Eugene, Ore.
This weekend's NCAA East Prelims serve as the opening rounds of the NCAA Championships, as do the NCAA West Prelims being conducted simultaneously in College Station, Texas. From each of the two regions, the top 12 in each of the 20 NCAA Championship events contested at the prelims will punch their tickets to Eugene for nationals.
Michigan has entries in 13 of those 20 events, all of whom qualified for the East Prelims by virtue of being among the best 48 individuals who declared to compete in each event, or among the top 24 relay teams.
Graduate students Andrew Liskowitz (shot put) and Roland Amarteifio (400-meter hurdles and 4x400 relay) will be looking to book individual return trips to nationals in their final postseason turns at Michigan, while most others are seeking their first NCAA outdoor bid.
Among those looking to advance are 2021 indoor All-Americans Tom Brady (10,000 meters), Tom Dodd (1,500 meters), Devin Meyrer (10,000 meters) and John Meyer (shot put), as well as Big Ten medalists Nick Foster (1,500 meters) and Joost Plaetinck (steeplechase).
In order to limit contacts between student-athletes to the extent possible, while bringing the schedule into alignment with the national championships', the men will compete Wednesday and Friday, while the women go on Thursday and Saturday. The meet has historically been a three-day competition with alternating men's and women's events each day.
Pole vaulter Henry Sheldon is first up for the Wolverines Wednesday at 3 p.m. in a competition that will continue only until 12 vaulters remain. Field event action for the Wolverines on Wednesday will also include the top-ranked duo of Liskowitz and Meyer in the shot put at 6 p.m., in which each thrower will only get three attempts.
Wednesday's track session also begins at 6 p.m., featuring five first-round events that lead into Friday's quarterfinals, and the decisive semifinal round of the 10,000 meters that will determine qualifiers.
Up in the track program will be Josh Zeller and Job Mayhue in the 110-meter hurdles at 6 p.m.; Foster, Dodd and Oli Raimond over 1,500 meters at 6:30 p.m.; Dubem Amene over 400 meters at 7:25 p.m.; Thomas Shilgalis and Derrick Simmons over 800 meters at 7:50 p.m.; and Amarteifio in the 400-meter hurdles at 8:20 p.m.. Wednesday will be capped off with Brady and Meyrer seeking nationals berths over 10,000 meters at 9:10 p.m.
Friday will begin at 1 p.m. in the high jump with Max Wagner and Baldwin. Like the pole vault, the competition will only continue until 12 jumpers remain.
The track session will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will include decisive quarterfinal rounds of those events contested Wednesday for those who advance. Additionally, Michigan will have NCAA bids on the line in the quarterfinals of the steeplechase for Plaetinck, Christian Hubaker and Austin Remick at 6:10 p.m. and the quarterfinals of the 4x400 relay at 9:15 p.m. The team that qualified to the Prelims for Michigan includes Amarteifio, Austin Lin, Owens and Amene.
All four days of competition at the NCAA East Prelims will be streamed live via North Florida's website, and live results can be found through Flash Results.
The official social media channels of the program will be providing updates throughout the weekend.
Spectators will be allowed but with a maximum of 2,500 per day. Ticket information can be found on UNF's site.
Notes & Outlook
• Liskowitz enters the East Prelims as the region's top-ranked shot putter and is aiming for his fourth straight appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He is joined atop the East region standings in the event by teammate Meyer, who is ranked No. 2. Earlier this month, the pair became what is believed to be the first set of teammates in collegiate history to throw farther than 20.30m in the same competition, and they are coming off a Big Ten Outdoor Championships competition in which Liskowitz claimed the title and Meyer earned bronze.
• On paper, Michigan is the deepest school in the East region in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on the strength of Big Ten scorers Plaetinck, Hubaker and Remick, who are ranked No. 9, 13 and 19 in the region, respectively. Michigan is one of just three schools in the region with three steeplechase qualifiers (Pittsburgh and Butler), but only Michigan has three ranked inside the top 20. This will be Plaetinck's second appearance at the East Prelims, and his previous career best prior to this year came in a 17th-place finish in 2019.
• Michigan is also among the region's best in the 110-meter hurdles with the duo of No. 9 Zeller and No. 20 Mayhue. Michigan is one of three schools in the field with multiple top-20-ranked 110-meter hurdlers (LSU and North Carolina A&T). When factoring in the 400-meter hurdles with No. 11 Amarteifio, only LSU and Michigan have multiple top-20 men at the 110-meter distance and another top-20 hurdler at 400 meters.
• Brady and Meyrer had breakthrough indoor campaigns at the national level as they earned second-team All-America honors at 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters, respectively, but they will be going for national glory at the same distance (10,000 meters) this spring. Brady and Meyrer are ranked No. 11 and No. 21, respectively, in the region. For historical context, Ben Flanagan was seeded No. 22 heading into the NCAA East Prelims in 2018 before going on to win the NCAA title.
• After amassing three Big Ten Championships medals in 2021, Foster will get his first shot at the NCAA track postseason over the 1,500-meter distance, along with first-team All-America indoor miler teammate Dodd. Seeded No. 16 in the field, Foster has shown the ability this spring to excel in both fast and tactical races, and Dodd has mile speed unmatched by all but a select few in the field, as evidenced by his back-to-back sub-four-minute miles at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships.
• Amene has shown impressive consistency over 400 meters during the last month, with four straight races in the 46-second range leading up to a fourth-place finish in a very competitive Big Ten final. He enters the meet ranked No. 25 overall but second among true freshmen in the East region.
Players Mentioned
