Brannen Advances, DMR Finishes Third at NCAA Indoors

Friday, March 14

Fayetteville, Ark.

Noon CT

Michigan

NCAA Indoor Championships (Day 1)

3/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The University of Michigan men's track and field team had a successful first day of competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships Friday (March 14), as the Wolverine distance medley relay team turned in a school-record time for third place and sophomore Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS) qualified for Saturday's 800-meter final. The six points earned by Andrew Ellerton (Windsor, Ontario/Confederation HS), Seth Waits (Grand Rapids, Ohio/Ostego HS), Brannen and Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) in the DMR were the Wolverines' first points at the indoor national meet since 2000, when U-M totaled four points.

In the final event of the night, the distance medley relay, Brannen, who had already run a 1:47.98 time in the 800 meters earlier in the day, started things off for U-M by running the opening 1,200 meters of the relay. After the cut-in on the second turn of the 200-meter lap, he established himself in fourth place, but with three laps to go in his race he made a move into third. With two laps to go, Brannen battled into second place, behind Stanford, but on the bell lap he made a move along the far straightaway, bursting to the head of the pack and eventually handing a six-meter lead to Waits for the 400-meter portion of the relay.

Waits maintained the lead with a strong relay leg. When he grabbed the baton from Brannen he dashed away from the line and created separation from the Stanford team that was quickly mounting an effort. Waits turned in a time of 47.7 in his 400 meters of work and handed the baton to Ellerton with a two-meter lead after 1,600 meters of the relay.

Running the 800-meter leg Ellerton maintained the first-place effort by the Maize and Blue for seven and a half laps of the eight lap race, but on the back straightaway Stanford made a huge burst to the front of the pack, dropping U-M to second.

As Willis grabbed the baton, the top four teams separated from the rest as Stanford, Michigan, Villanova and Southern Methodist broke away. Willis was able to recapture the lead with two and a half laps to go in the race, as he passed Grant Robinson of Stanford along the back straightaway. At the bell lap he began to pull away, but as the four teams entered the final turn, Stanford and Villanova began to make moves. With the three anchors battling down the final 40 meters, Villanova was able to lead across the finish line for the national title, at 9:29.12. Stanford was a close second, leaning in for a time of 9:29.29, while Willis finished off a Michigan school-record time of 9:29.76 for third place and six points at the national meet.

In the 800-meter run preliminaries, Brannen earned a spot in the eight-man field of Saturday's finals with a season-best time of 1:47.98, which took fourth in the second and fastest heat of the prelims. Brannen, starting in the outside box of the waterfall, had to run the first lap in lane four of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Complex. Once he was able to cut in, he positioned himself in fourth place, on the back of Arkansas' Robbie Stevens.

Brannen remained in fourth place during second lap, as the top four in the heat made it through the first 400 meters of the race in 51.15. Brannen made his move on the third lap, but as the bell rang for the final 200 meters, Stevens passed him and Brannen was forced to finish the last 75 meters in lane two. The top four finishers in his heat were separated by a total of 0.28 seconds, as heat winner Otukile Lekote (South Carolina) crossed in 1:47.70, Joseph Lee (Kansas State) finished in 1:47.75, Stevens finished in 1:47.90 and Brannen crossed in 1:47.98.

The Wolverines return to action at the NCAA Indoor Championships Saturday as Brannen and Willis compete in the 800- and 3,000-meter runs, respectively, at the Randal Tyson Track Complex.

Team Standings (after Day 1)

 1. Arkansas 19 2. Nebraska 16 3. Auburn 14 4. Tennessee 13 5. Stanford 12 6. Villanova 10 Manhattan 10 Kansas 10 Southern 10 Washington 10 Texas 10 South Carolina 10 ------------------------------- 16. MICHIGAN 6 Mississippi 6 Texas A&M 6 Alabama 6 Brigham Young 6 Southern Methodist 6 Ohio State 6

Results (Day 1)
(Events in which U-M competed only)

800-METER RUN Heat 1 1. Sam Burley, Pennsylvania 1:48.26Q 2. Jackson Langat, Texas Christian 1:48.36Q 3. Jesse O'Connell, Georgetown 1:48.82 4. James Doaty, Kentucky 1:49.77 5. Paul Ciurlys, Kentucky 1:50.08 6. Chad Johnsonm, Kentucky 1:50.53 7. Peter Etoot, Alabama 1:50.84 8. Aldwyn Sappleton, Oklahoma 1:52.86 Heat 2 1. Otukile Lekote, South Carolina 1:47.70Q 2. Joseph Lee, Kansas State 1:47.75Q 3. Robbie Stevens, Arkansas 1:47.90q 4. Nate Brannen, Michigan 1:47.98q 5. Fred Sharpe, Auburn 1:48.09q 6. Toby Henkels, Minnesota 1:48.64q 7. Christian Smith, Kansas State 1:48.96 8. Caleb Bailey, Western Carolina 1:50.49 DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY (Top 8) 1. Villanova 9:29.12 (Ryan Hayden, Nicholas O'Brien, Paul Moser, Adrian Blincoe) 2. Stanford 9:29.69 3. Michigan 9:29.76 (Nate Brannen, Seth Waits, Andrew Ellerton, Nick Willis) 4. Southern Methodist 9:33.46 5. Wisconsin 9:34.01 6. Minnesota 9:35.18 7. Kentucky 9:37.81 8. American 9:38.18 Qq indicates qualification for next round