Conqu'ring Heroes 203 - Kevin Sullivan Transcript
5/14/2026 7:52:00 AM | MGoBlue Podcasts
Brian Boesch • 00:00
The postseason is here for Michigan track and field, both the women's and men's teams heading to Lincoln, Nebraska for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships this Friday through Sunday. We'll preview everything coming up for the Wolverines with the director of track and field here on campus. That's Kevin Sullivan. Coach Sullivan coming your way when we come back here on Conqu'ring Heroes.
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Jeff Laurence • 00:26
Welcome to your One Stop podcast for all things Michigan Athletics. Updates on every team on campus and interviews with players and coaches are all on the way. This is Conqu'ring Heroes. Here's your host, Brian Bush.
Brian Boesch • 00:41
Always a pleasure to talk some track and field with the Mark Weiser, director of track and field and cross country here at the University of Michigan. Kevin Sullivan getting ready for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships this weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska. Coach, appreciate you coming by. It's a three day event Friday through Sunday, so can you just kind of lay out what this schedule looks like for both the men's and the women's team and how everything gets done in just those three days?
Kevin Sullivan • 01:09
Yeah, they're, they're pretty long days especially for the coaching staff since you know, we're out there from, from start to end. But yeah, I mean that's one of the things with track and field is, you know, with the number of events we have, trying to fit them into a, into a three day schedule can, can leave for some, some pretty long days. I mean primarily most of Friday and Saturday are preliminary rounds for pretty much everything on the track. There are a couple of track finals, ten K final, steeplechase final, and a few field event finals. But most of track stuff is all preliminaries and then Sunday is just primarily just all finals on the track. So that that day runs by pretty quick. That fits in like a three hour window, a few throws and field event finals on, on Sunday. But yeah, the bulk of all the scoring happens on Sunday. It's more like Friday and Saturday kind of sets you up for where your team's going to finish on Sunday.
Brian Boesch • 02:01
So how do you the rest of your assistance try to be as involved as present as possible. And is that something as you're going through the season you all are getting on the same page on to make sure you're ready for a big moment like this one?
Kevin Sullivan • 02:16
Yeah, I mean there's a, there's a lot of, there's a lot of logistics go into it, you know, for the most part, you know, you know each coach has their own event area that they're primarily responsible for. So that helps in a certain sense. You Know, for me, I'm going to be there pretty much, you know, from first event to last event as the head coach. But you know, my focus for the rest of our staff is like, take care, take care of your, your event group areas first. Any support we get outside of that is fantastic. But you know, we kind of have very specific jobs to do within their event area. So, you know, we kind of set meets up like that throughout the year where, you know, the sprint coaches focus on sprint hurdles and once, once he's done there, then he can shift over and kind of help out in some other areas where we may need him. Same thing with our, with our other coaches, but you know, more just trying to, trying to be there and support as much as we can.
Brian Boesch • 03:05
That being said, you know, you were a high level athlete in these, these types of settings. At this point as an athlete is a lot of the hay in the barn. Do you have to say less to some of these young men and women? Because it's been something that they've done over and over here for the last few months and obviously most of their lives.
Kevin Sullivan • 03:26
Yeah, we've, we've got an interesting mix in our team because we have some, we have some veterans, some really high level performers that have, you know, been obviously at this level, but also been NCAA finalists, all Americans. You know, for them, less is more. Like I really, especially in my event area, I'm, I'm very much like try to minimize the amount of kind of pre race, pre event talk. You know, you focus on like a couple of key points for each, for each race or each athlete, but don't overload them with information. I mean, I think that's just good advice in general. Once you get into a kind of championship setting for any, any of our event areas, it's like pick one or two cues to help your athlete because at that point it's like they've done all they can to prepare at this point and if you overload them with too much information, then that can just kind of sent him in a, in a downward spiral.
Kevin Sullivan • 04:15
And so, yeah, very much a less is more type coach when it comes to, comes to competition day.
Brian Boesch • 04:22
Let's talk a little bit about each of the team starting with the women's side. Last year they finished in ninth place at this event. Compare and contrast this year's group with last year's. Obviously understanding that there was a pretty big loss with, with the great career of Savannah Sutherland coming to an end last year.
Kevin Sullivan • 04:40
Yeah, obviously losing an athlete of Savannah's caliber, you Know, that's, that's obviously, you know, a big loss. It's a, it's a, it's a big number of points. You know, we've had, you know, we've had some, some young women step up to try and fill those roles. And, you know, it's, that's not, certainly not an easy task. But I think, you know, we have a young women's sprint corps that is kind of coming into their own. You know, Peyton Smith in the four hundred, Keyanna O'Tey, who's just a freshman but broke our school record and is now school record holder in the one hundred and the two hundred as a, as a true freshman. So those are nice kind of gaps that you fill in. Liz Tapper in the shotput has taken a big step forward where, from making ncaa's last year to being first team All American this year indoors. So you kind of rely on that experience and those, you know, those young women that were, you know, freshman and sophomore last year, hopefully taking that, that step forward and kind of helping a young team kind of move forward.
Kevin Sullivan • 05:35
You know, that's, that's our, that's our, our best options.
Brian Boesch • 05:38
You mentioned Keyanna O'Tey, twenty three point zero zero in the two hundred meter earlier this month down in North Carolina. She is a freshman. She's from Sturgis. Can you tell us how you got on her radar? She got on your radar? And did you expect this this early from her as a freshman?
Kevin Sullivan • 05:57
I think anytime a freshman kind of breaks out the way she has, it's not, it's not completely expected. I mean, certainly, I think we saw last year, you know, Coach Jeske especially, who recruits the sprints area, you know, saw that, you know, there was maybe a diamond in the rough there. You know, coming from a, you know, smaller school, smaller city, you know, not as, not as big a coaching and competitive background, like, was not on a real big stage a lot of times. And so, you know, those are the, those are the types of athletes where you hope once you get them into kind of a more structured fold, that they're going to take those steps forward. And certainly that's something that she's done this year. We, you know, we saw some, some really nice performances indoors and it's just kind of, she's just kind of springboarded into the outdoor season and really blossomed and super, super cool.
Kevin Sullivan • 06:45
Like, she didn't, when she broke the school record, she didn't even realize at first she'd broken the school record. I came over to congratulate her right Afterwards, and, and she's like, she's like, how close was I to the school record? I'm like, you are the school record holder now. Like, you know, big smile and hugs and, you know, so, you know, it's fun to see athletes have those breakouts, you know, and, and I think it's now, you know, changing her mindset as well. For, from, you know, you come in as a freshman, a lot of times you're hoping to make the Big Ten team, and now you're in a position where you've got an opportunity to be a Big Ten finalist. Now you got an opportunity to score points at the Big Ten level. And that's, that's not very common for freshmen in the league. Now with how, with how deep and talented it is.
Brian Boesch • 07:27
Another individual who showed some tremendous flashes as a freshman. You mentioned her, Peyton Smith. She's had a great year. Where has she. Taking that next step from a freshman to now a sophomore year where she's excelled like she has in some of those sprinting spots.
Kevin Sullivan • 07:42
Yeah, I think some of his. Some is she's more confident in herself, certainly from the technical side of things. You know, she has a tendency to get really long when she's late in the race and we're starting to see her get stronger, shorten her stride up a little bit where, you know, she's not losing as much momentum in the last hundred, where she's actually gaining on. On women now. So we're just kind of seeing, you know, you know, different athlete kind of emerge over the, especially over the last few weeks, and she's kind of elevated herself to the top of the conference now. And, you know, that's, you know, where our hope was because she was, you know, very highly regarded coming out of high school and, you know, hadn't had a nice freshman year. But again, it's like those are the athletes that you. You're really banking on those athletes making that next step, and she's continuing to do that.
Kevin Sullivan • 08:25
She'll be an integral part of our four x four women's four x four, which should place high in the. High in the conference. So, you know, she's got a. She's got a couple of different roles to play on the team now.
Brian Boesch • 08:35
What other areas on the women's side must stand out, elevate, perform up to its standard for you all to maximize this trip out to Nebraska this weekend.
Kevin Sullivan • 08:46
Yeah, I mean, really for us, it's about, you know, our big hitters have to hit. That's. That's the key for us. And you know, then you want to be able to pick up some smaller points are kind of around the board. But you know, Liz Tapper in the shot put, that's going to be, that's a, that's a big event for us. As I mentioned earlier, she was first team all American indoors. The shot put is one of the deepest events in the conference. So it's a, it's a tall task. But, you know, we've got hopes that, you know, she'll, she'll perform the way she has performed all year and that should get us some good points there. Hannah Pricco in the steeplechase, she just took up the steeplechase this year and is now sitting fourth in the conference. So that's been, you know, one of the, it's one of those events where you, you improve the more you do it typically. And so she's already sitting, you know, top six, I think in our all time school list.
Kevin Sullivan • 09:33
And you know, she takes another few seconds off and that could elevate her into a top three spot in the conference. So I think those were unexpected points that were, that we're really hoping for, you know, and then again, like I said, we've got a, we've got a good young sprint crew. So picking up points in the. Four by four, four by one, that'll be important. Emmry Ross, a true freshman in the eight hundred, it's another area. We'll hope to pick up some points there. And, and then I think we've got a sprinkling of points kind of around the board outside of that.
Brian Boesch • 09:58
We're with director of track and field Kevin Sullivan here on Conqu'ring Heroes. Let's flip to the men's side. An event last year you guys finished tied for eleven. So same question as the women's side. Where has this team grew, grown from last year to this year, Outdoor?
Kevin Sullivan • 10:17
Yeah, I mean, we've always been pretty strong in the distance area and it's been a challenge, you know, the new conference, bringing in Washington, Oregon, that has elevated the distance side of things and what was already strong conference. But we've took, we've taken some big strides there right, right now this year. And even indoors, you know, we, you know, we were eleventh outdoors last year, fourth indoors this year, and we did that on the backs of kind of the distance, the distance side of things. So, you know, right now we're, we have athletes. Trent, Trent McFarland's ranked number, number three in, number three in the NCAA right now in the fifteen hundred. His teammate Brendan Herger's ranked number number four and they're number number three and number ten all time in the NCAA in those in that event. So look for big points out of the fifteen hundred.
Kevin Sullivan • 11:02
We're coming off a big win at Penn Relays in the four by eight hundred. So our eight hundred meter squad, we've got, you know, Miles Brown and Camden Law and John O'Reilly there. They all have the potential to make the final. The biggest challenge is those events are so deep in the conference that you could, you could literally be all American and not make the final of the conference. So we've got to make sure we take care of business on Friday and Saturday in the preliminary rounds there. I think we've got other avenues of point scoring in men's shot with Josh Huisman, our four by four should, should get some, some solid points. We'll pick up a few more, you know, hopefully you know, in the steeple chase in the five K but, but we're gonna, we're probably, we have a lot of emphasis on the, on the distance side of things. So you know, if those guys perform that'll be a good start where then hopefully we can, hopefully we can get.
Kevin Sullivan • 11:51
Gather some momentum and grab a few points in, in some other areas as well.
Brian Boesch • 11:55
You alluded to that fifteen hundred meter Trent McFarland and Brendan Herger both beating your school record from the past, which is obviously for you. That had to have been a point of pride to have helped them get to that point. What was it like to see it and what allowed those two young men in, you know, in particular to be able to have such success and in a race that's obviously, you know, it like the back of your hand.
Kevin Sullivan • 12:21
Yeah, no, I mean, well, first off, they're just, they're just competitors and you know, we had put a, we had two meets on the schedule. Raleigh Relays down at NC State and the Wake Forest Invitational at Wake Forest. Those are kind of the, the two kind of primary events where we had those focus encircled on the calendar. Like we're going to take good shots at not necessarily the school record, but we're going to take good shots at running. Personal best there, trying to, trying to run as fast as we possibly could. And you know, we got, we got two really good setup races, you know, solid competition, good pacemaking and, and we just got good nights on both days. And then you have two guys that really thrive on competition. So both guys trying to win, win those races. And when you get in that situation and you have two good racers, then usually good things happen from there.
Kevin Sullivan • 13:14
So, yeah, they're just, they, you know, they both took, you know, really big steps forward indoors this year and that is, that momentum is carried into the outdoor season. And, and they're both, they're two favor. They're two of the favorites to win the NCAA title. So, you know, that's, that's going to be not an easy task. I mean, the number one athlete in the fifteen hundred is in our conference and the collegiate record holder. So, you know, they know they've got a tall task. But at the same time, you know, right now Trent's undefeated in the fifteen hundred. This year he was undefeated in every single mile race he ran indoors except for the NCAA championship. So, you know, he knows how to win. And Brendan's right on his tail every race. So they both believe they can win. They both have the talent to win, and that's usually half the battle.
Brian Boesch • 14:02
You've talked a lot obviously about the distance side on the men's team, but just this past weekend, Jake Machiniak breaking the program record in the two hundred meter at twenty point five eight, now the program's record holder, both indoor and outdoor. What about Jake has allowed him to have the type of success, not just the season, but obviously it seems like he's peaking at the right time.
Kevin Sullivan • 14:26
Yeah, no, it's been great. And you know, Jake's a transfer from Grand Valley and, and you know, we, we saw, we saw a good form out of him last year when we started kind of recruiting him out of the transfer portal. And, and that has certainly carried over this year. I think, you know, one, he's been able to get in front of some better competition, which is, which has been great. You know, one of the challenges I think sometimes with, with any sprinter is just getting good, consistent, healthy training in. And he's been a guy that, he hasn't been banged up this year. He hasn't, he hasn't missed much, much if any time with injury, illness and, and those things go a long way. You don't really realize it until you miss a, you miss ten days or you miss two weeks with a, with an achy hamstring or, you know, or something else. And, and the same thing. He's just, he's just a great competitor.
Kevin Sullivan • 15:16
I think that's a, the one thing like our, our best scorers and our best competitors just, they thrive on trying to win races. And if, usually if you do that, you, you know, the times will come, performances will come. You don't have to focus as much on, on what the mark's going to be, it's just like go out and race, do your thing, let your competitive instincts come take over and you know, if you're winning, winning races, winning heats and then good, good fast times are going to come.
Brian Boesch • 15:44
I want to make sure we touch on that four by eight hundred team because you alluded to, you know, some of the back and forth, the competitive nature of Trent McFarland and Brendan Herger. They're on that team with Camden Law and John O'Reilly. That's a unique beast where you, you have to obviously excel individually, but also there's some camaraderie, some team related actions and activities in a relay that, that isn't necessarily there in some of the individual events. How have you those four been able to come together the way that they've had to to do what they did at the Penn Relays? One of the great runs in NCAA history.
Kevin Sullivan • 16:19
Yeah, no, we're, and that was, it was a great run. You know, just from the fact like last year we finished third at, in the four by eight at Penn and we circled it on the calendar after that meet that that was our target for this year at Penn. That was one race we knew we were going to load up and try and try and go after the win. You know, we have our in conference rivals, Penn State, who are, you know, year over year, probably the top eight hundred meter producing school in the, in the conference, if not the country. So you know, tall task at hand but you know, again you go back to like the competitiveness of the team. That helps. First of all, our guys are competitive amongst themselves. Like they all want, they're all kind of alpha dogs and you know, they all kind of, you know, you know, it's like you could put any one of them on the anchor. Like all of them want to anchor the relay.
Kevin Sullivan • 17:08
They all want kind of that, that glory leg. But at the same time, like, you know, I was having a challenging time of figuring out whether I was gonna, whether I was gonna anchor camera, where I was going to anchor Trent and, and both of them came to me like, hey, we're, we're both, hey, we both want to anchor, but we're okay. Whatever you decide, like we're gonna, we're gonna play our role. And I think that's the, that's the best thing about this team is like you put them in a position, they're okay whether they're first man, fourth man and they're gonna, they're gonna do their job to the best of their ability and you know, it doesn't matter at the end of the day if we win. They all, they all share in that, in that success. And when you get people that are of that mindset rather than I just want the individual glory for myself, you know, then good things happen as a team.
Brian Boesch • 17:54
You gave us a great roadmap on the women's side of how to maximize things this weekend. How about on the men's side beyond some of the, the key contributors, relay teams we've discussed.
Kevin Sullivan • 18:03
Yeah, I mean, the, the, the keys again are your big scorers. So we've got to get big points out of the eight hundred and the fifteen hundred. We've got, you know, three young men in the five K, actually four in the five K that I think, you know, all have opportunities to score in the, in the right setting with Nate Lopez and Heath McAllister, Nolan Clark and Luke Venhuizen. We'll throw Trent in there as well. We'll, we're hope that, you know, you know, with Jake's form that we pick up points in the two hundred, Josh Huisman in the, in the, in the shot put, you know, he's, he's knocking on the door for scoring, you know, in the field, you know, we've got opportunities in a pole vault with Liam Kinney who scored indoors for us. So yeah, we've got, we've got opportunities for, for some points and kind of a variety of areas there. But again, it's like your big hitters got to hit first and then, and then you kind of pick up some smaller points along the board.
Brian Boesch • 18:59
Follow along Friday and Saturday from Lincoln on Big Ten plus and on runner space. Sunday, action moves to Big Ten Network. Kevin Sullivan. Appreciate the time, safe travels and good luck here. Coming up this weekend in the Big Ten outdoors.
Kevin Sullivan • 19:14
Great. Thanks. Appreciate it. Go blue.
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Brian Boesch • 19:22
Very appreciative of Kevin Sullivan's time before the women in the men's track and field teams head out to Lincoln Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Jon Jansen will be back with you next week here on Conqu'ring Heroes. Getting close to the end of the season for our Conqu'ring Heroes for twenty five, twenty six, but we're going to talk a little rowing next week with John having, of course, a personal connection to the Michigan rowing program. Looking forward to that conversation as we continue along here on Conqu'ring Heroes. Thanks for listening and go blue.
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Jeff Laurence • 19:57
Thanks for listening to Conqu'ring Heroes with Jon Jansen. Conqu'ring Heroes is part of our Michigan Athletics Podcast Network M GO Blue Podcast. The preceding has been a Learfield presentation of the Michigan Sports Network.
