Michigan
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Michigan Set to Contend at Big Ten Outdoor Championships
5/11/2022 1:30:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sun., May 13-15 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships (Minneapolis, Minn.) | Championships Central
Friday, May 13 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Noon CDT
TV: B1G+ | Live Results | Live Video: Track / Field
Saturday, May 14 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 10 a.m. CDT
TV: B1G+ | Live Results | Live Video: Track / Field
Sunday, May 15 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 11 a.m. CDT
TV: B1G+ | Live Results | Live Video: Track / Field
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Led by several contenders for individual titles, the University of Michigan men's track and field team will battle for one of the top spots in the team standings at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships this Friday through Sunday (May 13-15) at the University of Minnesota Track and Field Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn.
Over the course of three days, the Wolverines are expected to challenge for a top-five finish in what is shaping up to be a wide-open race behind pre-meet favorites Iowa and Ohio State.
Michigan is coming off a runner-up finish at the meet a year ago, and also has recent fourth-place (2018) and runner-up (2016) finishes. Michigan's last title came in 2008, and the Wolverines finished seventh the last time the meet was hosted at Minnesota in 2003. Michigan won conference titles at Minneapolis in 1956 and 1982.
Reigning indoor 60-meter hurdles conference champion Joshua Zeller will look to add an outdoor 110-meter hurdles title to his resume, spearheading a group of All-Americans, Big Ten medalists and Big Ten scorers that will power the Wolverines' team performance in the Twin Cities.
Among those joining him are two-time Big Ten medalist and All-American Nick Foster (1,500 meters), two-time All-American Tom Dodd (1,500 meters), two-time All-American and indoor silver medalist Dubem Amene (400 meters), two-time All-American and indoor silver medalist Miles Brown (800 meters), All-American and indoor bronze medalist Cole Johnson (800 meters), All-American and returning silver medalist Tom Brady (10,000 meters and 5,000 meters), All-American Christian Hubaker (steeplechase), returning bronze medalist Joost Plaetinck (steeplechase and 5,000 meters) and multiple-time All-American Devin Meyrer.
Headlining the field events are past Big Ten scorers Mason Mahacek (decathlon), Cassidy Henshaw (high jump) and Bera Ajala (triple jump).
Mahacek will get things going for the Wolverines on Friday (May 13) at noon CDT with the decathlon 100 meters, the first of five events on the first of two days in the 10-event combined-event competition. Action in the decathlon is anticipated to continue through about 5:30 p.m.
In the meantime, the lone field event for Michigan, the men's hammer throw, will begin at 2 p.m. CDT. Qualifying races on the track begin at 6:30 p.m. for Michigan with individuals looking to advance to Sunday's (May 15) finals at 200 meters and 1,500 meters.
The evening will conclude with the first track final of the weekend as Brady, Meyrer and Zach Stewart look to score points at 10,000 meters starting at 8:15 p.m. CDT.
The decathlon will resume for Mahacek on Saturday morning (May 14) at 10 a.m. CDT, with an expected finish of all 10 events just after 4 p.m. with the 1,500 meters. Michigan's only field event of the day, the shot put, begins at 2:30 p.m.
Qualifying on the track will pick up again at 4:15 p.m. CDT, beginning with Amene at 400 meters. The Wolverines also will look to advance individuals to the 110-meter hurdles and 800 meters finals, before capping the night with the 3,000-meter steeplechase final at 6:45 p.m. The Michigan steeplechase squad, led by Hubaker and Plaetinck, is among the deepest in the entire nation, and could be a significant scoring opportunity.
Sunday is all final-round competition, beginning in the field at 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. CDT with Henry Sheldon in the pole vault and Henshaw in the high jump, respectively. Ajala will also contest the triple jump beginning at 1:30 p.m.
The track session will begin at 12:55 p.m. CDT for the men with the 4x100 relay. Michigan will look to score as many points as possible from the events in which qualifying rounds were held in the preceding two days -- 1,500 meters (1:15 p.m.), 110-meter hurdles (1:35 p.m.), 400 meters (1:45 p.m.), 800 meters (2:08 p.m.) and 200 meters (2:42 p.m.).
After those events, Michigan will have two final scoring opportunities in the 5,000 meters (3:11 p.m. CDT) and the meet-finale 4x400 relay (3:45 p.m.).
All three days of competition will be streamed online on the subscription B1G+ platform, with two separate feeds each day for track events and composite coverage of field events.
Live results will be provided through Primetime Timing. Updates will be posted to the official Michigan track and field social media channels throughout the day.
How the Big Ten Outdoor Championships Work
Each of the teams in the conference has the opportunity to enter student-athletes into the 21 events on the Big Ten Indoor Championships meet program. Student-athletes will compete against each other in each of those events, with points awarded to the respective teams of the top-eight finishers.
Event winners will get 10 points for their teams, with the runners-up receiving eight points in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring. The team that accumulates the most points from its student-athletes will be crowned the team champion.
Featured Wolverines
• Joshua Zeller is looking to win the 20th Big Ten title in the 110-meter or 120-yard sprint hurdles in the program's long history, and the first since eventual two-time Olympian Jeff Porter won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. Zeller owns the two fastest times in the conference this year, including his school-record 13.42 seconds that still ranks No. 15 in the world among wind-legal times (2.0 meters per second or less) and No. 4 in the NCAA among all eligible qualifying times (4.0m/s or less). At the Drake Relays, he beat the men currently ranked Nos. 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 in the conference.
 • Tom Dodd and Nick Foster headline the 1,500-meter crew looking for Michigan's first conference title in the event since Justin Switzer won in 2007. Dodd is the only man in the conference to have run faster than 3:40 multiple times this season -- 3:39.23 and 3:39.86, converted to just under and just over 3:57 miles, respectively -- and Foster is the returning silver medalist in the event. He missed out on the title by .44 seconds a year ago. The two are ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in school history in the event.
• Indoor 800-meter All-Americans Cole Johnson and Miles Brown will look to score significant points for the Wolverines outdoors just as they did indoors. The two combined for 14 points at the Big Ten Indoor championships with Brown's school-record 600-meter run for the silver medal and Johnson's third-place effort at 800 meters, in addition to points they earned as part of the fifth-place distance medley and seventh-place 4x400 relays.
• According to the latest Event Squad Rankings from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, only four teams in the country have deeper crews in the steeplechase than do the Wolverines. Christian Hubaker and Joost Plaetinck have gone 8:48.64 and 8:50.10 so far this year already for third and fourth in the conference, and are followed by No. 7 Jack Spamer, No. 9 Austin Remick and No. 11 Joe Meyers. Plaetinck, Hubaker, Remick and Spamer all scored a combined 17 points at last year's championships in this event.
• The last time Dubem Amene competed at a conference championship meet this winter, he twice broke the indoor U-M record for 400 meters on his way to a silver medal and a trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships, where he earned All-America honors in that event and as part of the distance medley relay. He enters this weekend ranked No. 3 in the conference with a chance to dip into the 45-second territory for the first time in his career. Only two other Michigan men have done that, and none since 1985. The last Michigan man to win the title in this event was Todd Steverson in 1986.
• A year ago, Tom Brady was outdueled to the line in the 10,000 meters final by just over a second, though he came away with a Big Ten silver medal. Set for his first 10K of the outdoor season, Brady will look to replicate that performance. He will be joined by former fourth-place finisher and multiple-time All-American Devin Meyrer, who is seeking not only valuable team points but also a time that will advance him to the NCAA East Prelims and extend his final season as a Wolverine.
• Headlining the field events is Mason Mahacek in the decathlon. He withdrew from his only decathlon attempt this year in April, but has scored in every appearance at the Big Ten Championships during his career. He was sixth in the indoor heptathlon this winter, eighth in last year's outdoor decathlon, and fifth and seventh in the preceding two editions of the indoor heptathlon.
Up Next
Wed-Sat., May 25-28 -- at NCAA East Preliminaries (Bloomington, Ind.), TBA
Players Mentioned
