Weekly Release #19
5/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Upcoming Schedule
Fri-Sat., May 30-31 -- at NCAA Mideast Regional Championships (Columbus, Ohio), noon
Wed-Sat., June 11-14 -- at NCAA Championships (Sacramento, Calif.)
This Week: at NCAA Mideast Regional
The University of Michigan men's track and field team has 15 athletes qualified for the first-ever NCAA Mideast Regional on Friday and Saturday (May 30-31) at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The regional will be used to help qualify athletes for the upcoming NCAA Championships (June 11-14) in lieu of the automatic/provisional qualifying standards used in the past. Competition will begin at noon both days, with running events scheduled to start at 4 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Schedule for U-M Athletes
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First Year of the NCAA Regional
As of the 2003 outdoor season, four regional meets will now be held to determine the participants for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. In order for an athlete to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, he must finish in the top five of an individual event or be a member of a top-three relay at the regional championship. The track and field committee will also select a group of at-large athletes to round out the remainder of the Championships field in each event, similar to provisional-qualifying marks in the past.
Michigan's NCAA Regional Qualifiers
Through last weekend's action (May 18), Michigan has a total of 21 qualifiers for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. Fifteen individual athletes have qualified in five different events, with six -- Andrew Ellerton (Windsor, Ontario/Confederation HS), Tom Greenless (Milford, Mich./Milford HS), Alex L'Heureux (Weedon, Quebec/Palm Beach Gardens HS, Fla.), sophomore/freshman Rondell Ruff (Detroit, Mich./Henry Ford HS), junior Brian Turner (Omaha, Neb./Millard North HS) and Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) -- qualifying in two events apiece, though each will compete in just one event over the weekend. Michigan boasts four competitors in both the 800- and 1,500-meter fields. Both the steeplechase and the high jump will have three U-M entries apiece.
Michigan Among the Field
Here is where the Wolverines are ranked among the NCAA Mideast Regional field:
800-Meter Run 1. Marc Sylvester, Tennessee 1:46.56 10. Nate Brannen, U-M 1:49.15 12. Andrew Ellerton, U-M 1:49.34 25. Dan Cooke, U-M 1:50.49 26. Jeremy Schneider, U-M 1:50.50 1,500-Meter Run 1. John Jefferson, Indiana 3:41.53 10. Nick Willis, U-M 3:46.28 24. Rondell Ruff, U-M 3:49.59 30. Brian Turner, U-M 3:49.72 32. Tom Greenless, U-M 3:49.97 3,000-Meter Steeplechase 1. Dan Lincoln, Arkansas 8:29.57 9. Alex L'Heureux, U-M 8:55.45 17. Tarn Leach, U-M 9:03.98 27. Ryan Hesselink, U-M 9:09.41 5,000-Meter Run 1. Alistair Cragg, Arkansas 13:25.59 16. Nick Stanko, U-M 14:16.94 High Jump 1. Cedric Norman, So. Miss. 7-5 1/4 (2.27m) 15. Braylon Edwards, U-M 6-11 (2.11m) 17. Adam Kring, U-M 6-11 (2.11m) 32. Jeong-Hwan Kang, U-M 6-9 1/2 (2.07m)
Title Defense Begins
Sophomore Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS) will begin the defense of his 2003 indoor 800-meter national championship at the NCAA Regional. Brannen holds the field's 10th-fastest time at 1:49.15. The Mideast Regional fields five athletes who participated in the 800-meter run at the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships -- Arkansas' Robbie Stevens (ranked No. 2), Alabama's Peter Etoot (No. 3) and Kentucky's Chad Johnson (No. 6), Paul Ciurlys (No. 7) and James Doaty (No. 9).
Strong Track Record
With the 10th-fastest time in the 1,500-meter field at the NCAA Regional, freshman Nick Willis may still hold an edge over the rest of the field. At the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Willis defeated Indiana sophomore John Jefferson, who enters the regional as the No. 1 seed, to claim the conference 1,500 meters crown. Coincidentally, Willis has also defeated the top-ranked 800-meter runner, Tennessee's Marc Sylvester, in a head-to-head race this season at the Jesse Owens Classic (May 3).
Last Time Around: Big Ten Outdoor Championships
The Wolverines finished seventh with 56 points at the 2003 Big Ten Outdoor Championships man Track and Field Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. Sophomore Nate Brannen won the 800-meter championship and freshman Nick Willis took the 1,500-meter crown as the Wolverines' top finishers. A total of 10 athletes posted scoring performances at the meet. Senior/junior Nick Stanko finished third in the 10,000-meter run on Wednesday (May 16). Freshman Andrew Ellerton took second, behind Brannen, in the 800 meters, while senior/junior Dan Cooke (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney HS) also scored in the race. Tom Greenless and Rondell Ruff, who took seventh and eighth places, respectively, followed Willis across the finish line in the 1,500 meters. Freshman Adam Kring (Port Huron, Mich./Northern HS) tied for fifth place in the high jump with a career-best 6-11 leap. Teammate Braylon Edwards (Detroit, Mich./Bishop Gallagher HS) also jumped 6-11 but finished eighth overall due to more attempts at the height. Freshman Spencer Dowdall (Coral Springs, Fla./Coral Springs HS) split eighth-place points in the pole vault, while junior David Battani (Fraser, Mich./Fraser HS) and sophomore Seth Waits (Grand Rapids, Ohio/Otsego HS) rounded out Michigan's scorers with top-eight performances in the 400-meter hurdles.
How Do You Like Them Apples
Freshman Nick Willis was named Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year in the conference's outdoor postseason awards after winning the 1,500-meter run at the outdoor championships. He becomes the first Wolverine to sweep the Freshman of the Year honors, as he was also named the top freshman indoor performer after winning the Big Ten indoor 3,000-meter crown at the conference indoor meet (March 1-2).
Taking the Double
With his win in the outdoor 800-meter run at the 2003 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Nate Brannen became the first Wolverine to win indoor and outdoor titles in the 800 meters since 1964 when Ted Kelly (1962-64) won both the 880-yard titles. Brannen is only the sixth member of the Maize and Blue to accomplish the feat.
A Winning Combo
With his win in the 1,500 meters at the 2003 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, freshman Nick Willis became just the second Wolverine to win the outdoor 1,500-meter run and indoor 3,000-meter titles in the same season, joining Kevin Sullivan (1994-98). Sullivan won the last of his four 1,500/3,000 doubles in 1998.
Dynamic Duo
Nate Brannen and Nick Willis became the first U-M pair to win at least four Big Ten titles in the same season since Kevin Sullivan (1994-98) and John Mortimer (1996-98) paired to win a total of five indoor and outdoor conference crowns in 1998.
Playing Above the Bar
Adam Kring's tie for fifth is the best Big Ten outdoor finish in the high jump by a Wolverine since Damon DeVasher (1994-97) placed fifth in 1997. Kring and teammate Braylon Edwards each cleared 6-11 in the event, the top height by a U-M high jumper at the Big Ten outdoor meet since Jon Royce (1993-96) won the 1996 title by clearing 7-1 1/2.
First of Many
David Battani, Spencer Dowdall, Braylon Edwards and Nick Stanko posted scoring performances at a Big Ten meet for the first time of their careers at the 2003 outdoor championships. Stanko finished third in the 10,000 meters, while Battani finished eighth in the 400-meter hurdles, qualifying with a career-best time of 53.55. Dowdall tied a career high with a mark of 15-1 in the pole vault to tie for eighth place, while in the high jump Edwards also took eighth with a career best of 6-11.
Kangaroo
Sophomore Jeong-Hwan Kang (Lynnwood, Wash./John F. Kennedy HS) posted a career-best and NCAA Regional qualifying height with his high jump of 6-9 1/2 at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. The leap was good for 12th place at the conference meet.
National Champion!
With his win in the 800-meter run March 15 at the 2003 NCAA Championships, sophomore Nate Brannen became Michigan's first national champion since 1998. Making his move from fifth place with 150 meters remaining in the race, Brannen advanced to the front of the pack to win the race in a school and Canadian Senior Indoor record time of 1:47.79.
Rewriting the Record Books
Nate Brannen gained the second school record of his career with his time of 1:47.79 in the 800-meter run March 15 at the NCAA Indoor Championships. His mark bettered Neal Newman's 12-year-old record clocking of 1:47.83 set in 1991. Brannen also holds Michigan's fastest mark in the outdoor 800 meters with his time of 1:46.00 at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championships (May 31, 2002).
A Fine DMR
The distance medley relay has been one of Michigan's most successful events this season. Combining the efforts of four athletes running four different distances (400, 800, 1,200 and 1,600 meters), Maize and Blue DMRs have won indoor All-America honors, set a school record and won a Penn Relays title in 2003. The Penn Relays is the nation's top outdoor DMR competition and serves as the de facto national championship since the event is not contested at the NCAA Championships.
DM-Record
The Wolverine distance medley relay team of Nate Brannen, Seth Waits (Grand Rapids, Ohio/Otsego HS), Andrew Ellerton and Nick Willis etched their names into the U-M record book with a third-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships (March 14) as the Maize and Blue crew broke the school record by over 2.5 seconds with its 9:29.76 result. Scott MacDonald (1992-97), Trinity Townshend (1993-96), Jeff Wood (1994-97) and Kevin Sullivan (1994-98) held the DMR record for seven years with their time of 9:32.28 achieved at the 1996 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Next Time Around
Following a week off, those members of the Maize and Blue who advance to the 2003 NCAA Championships (June 11-16) will travel to Cal State-Sacramento's Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, Calif.
Contact: Andrew Ladd (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
