DMR Repeat: Michigan Wins NCAA Relay Title After DQ

Friday, March 11

Fayetteville, Ark.

Michigan

NCAA Indoor Championships (Day 1)

3/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- It didn't happen the way the Wolverines had envisioned it, but the University of Michigan repeated as men's distance medley relay national champion Friday (March 11) on the opening day of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at Randal Tyson Indoor Track. With 10 points, Michigan is in a three-way tie for 10th place with seven events scored.

Brannen and Ahmed battle toward the DMR finish line.

Michigan was awarded first place after Arkansas was disqualified for illegal contact at or near the finish line. Prior to the disqualification, the host Razorbacks were judged to have nipped Michigan by three-hundredths of a second in a photo finish, 9:30.79 to 9:30.82.

Running the 1,600-meter anchor leg, senior Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston SS) made up some 30 meters on the leader in a mad dash to the finish and was bidding to pass Arkansas' Said Ahmed when the contact occurred.

Senior Rondell Ruff (Detroit, Mich./Henry Ford HS), sophomore Stann Waithe (Towson, Md./Loch Raven HS), junior Andrew Ellerton (Sudbury, Ontario/Conferderation SS) ran the first three legs -- 1,200, 400 and 800 meters, respectively. Ellerton and Brannen were also on Michigan's NCAA champion DMR squad in 2004.

Starting the relay in the inside lane of the outside box, Ruff slowed down slightly as the two packs converged, tucking into second place behind Arkansas' Adam Perkins. The Wolverine senior dropped a few positions through the first few laps, falling back to fifth on the backstretch of the third lap. Ruff used the backstretch of the subsequent lap to cut to the outside lane and move into the second position as the field entered the final 200 meters of the opening leg, but in his last lap Ruff was tripped up coming out of the second bend and fell back to fifth place entering the first exchange. In his first NCAA appearance, Ruff split 2:56.3 over the 1,200-meter leg.

Waithe put the Wolverines back among the leaders with a solid 45.8 split over his 400 meters. Starting out in fifth, Waithe gained back a position through his first lap, and, flying around the final bend of his leg, he caught Arkansas' Terry Gatson and UCLA's Craig Everhart at the exchange in the second spot.

Coming off the congested handoff with heavy pressure on his heels, Ellerton allowed himself to get passed early into his 800-meter portion of the race as he fell back into the fifth spot. The Wolverine made up ground in the final two laps of his leg, earning back both positions to put Michigan in third place at the final exchange with a 1:49.8 split.

UCLA and Arkansas immediately took off after the exchange to build a substanial gap of the field while Brannen gradually moved around Washington's Andy Fader down the first backstretch to reclaim the third position. The Wolverine captain led the chasers in the third position, running much of his 1,600 meters alone as the field strung out around the track behind him. Midway through the anchor leg, Ahmed sprinted past UCLA's Jon Rankin into the lead, but Brannen stayed in his position 30 meters back, neither gaining nor losing ground on the frontrunners. The Wolverine used the backstretch of his seventh lap to finally close the gap, and by the time they reached the bell, he had pulled up onto the heels of the leaders. Brannen passed Rankin down the final backstretch, moving into the second position, before cutting to the outside lane in the last 60 meters to pull even with Ahmed -- clocking a 3:58.4 split over the 1,600-meter leg -- and set up the controversial finish at the line.

The men's victory gave Michigan a sweep of the DMR titles, following the women's crown by Nicole Edwards, Sierra Hauser-Price, Theresa Feldkamp and Lindsey Gallo in the preceding race. U-M joins the 2000 Stanford team as the only schools to sweep the men's and women's NCAA distance medley relay titles in the same year, and U-M is the third straight team to win back-to-back men's DMR titles, following Stanford (2000-01) and Villanova (2002-03).

Earlier in the evening Brannen and junior Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) earned spots in the finals of their respective events. Brannen, two-time defending NCAA indoor champion in the 800 meters, posted a time of 1:48.70 to finish third in his 800m heat and advanced on time as one of six qualifiers from the much-faster first heat.

After getting bumped at the line, the Wolverine captain went straight to the back of the opening inside box but found himself in the fourth position when the packs converged after the first turn. After getting passed and pushed back to the fifth spot as the field headed into the bell lap, Brannen immediately retook his position coming around the first bend to stay near the front. Down the final stretch, he latched onto Florida A&M's Kevin Hicks as the pair cut to the outside lane to pick up a couple positions at the finish.

Willis, the No. 3 seed in the mile, clocked in at 4:03.90 to finish second in the first heat, just 0.30 behind Arkansas' Ahmed, the first-place finisher. The top three in each heat -- whose six times were all bunched between 4:03.60 and 4:03.95 -- advanced to the final, as did the next four fastest times, a group that included Big Ten champion Sean Jefferson of Indiana.

After starting the race in the outside box, Willis positioned himself at the very rear of the eight-man field as the packs converged through the second turn. The Wolverine remained steadfast in the dead-last position until the backstretch of the seventh lap when he picked up the pace to move up five positions in just 60 meters. Willis continued his surge in the final lap -- the Wolverine clocked a 58-second split over the last 400 meters -- gaining one more spot down the backstretch of the final lap to settle into the second position.

Brannen and Willis are scheduled to run two events each Saturday (March 12) as the NCAA Indoor Championships wrap up. Willis will run the mile at 6:25 p.m CST, Brannen will go for his 800-meter run three-peat at 6:45 p.m. CST, and the Wolverines duo will compete in the 3,000-meter run at 7:50 p.m. CST.

Top 10 Teams (After Day 1)

 1. Oregon 20 2. Arkansas 19 3. Wisconsin 16 4. Arizona State 15 Florida 15 Stanford 15 7. Virginia Tech 14 8. South Carolina 12 Tennessee 12 10. MICHIGAN 10 Mississippi 10 Indiana 10

Michigan Results (Day 1)

800-meter Run (Prelims)

Heat 1 1. Jonathon Johnson, Texas Tech 1:48.42Q 2. Kevin Hicks, Florida A&M 1:48.54Q 3. NATE BRANNEN, U-M 1:48.70q 4. Mike Inge, Kent State 1:48.77q 5. Sherridan Kirk, Auburn 1:48.89q 6. Jeremy Mims, Kansas 1:49.41q 7. Erik Sproll, Kansas State 1:50.94 8. Jeffrey Fisher, Louisiana State 1:50.96 Heat 2 1. Aldwyn Sappleton, Oklahoma 1:49.25Q 2. James Hatch, Arkansas 1:49.27Q 3. Prince Mumba, Oral Roberts 1:49.41 4. Christian Smith, Kansas State 1:49.73 5. Joel Williams, Jackson State 1:49.80 6. Zachary Glavash, Illinois 1:49.85 7. Shaun Smith, Oral Roberts 1:50.20 8. Paul Cross, Tennessee 1:51.65

Mile Run (Prelims)

Heat 1 1. Said Ahmed, Arkansas 4:03.60Q 2. NICK WILLIS, U-M 4:03.90Q 3. Jonah Maiyo, Arizona 4:03.95Q 4. Tom Lancashire, Florida State 4:04.71q 5. Nathan Robison, Brigham Young 4:07.27 6. Steze Zieminski, Florida 4:08.17 7. Lauren Jespersen, Stanford 4:09.62 8. Paul Hoffman, Idaho State 4:10.93 Heat 2 1. Kurt Benninger, Notre Dame 4:03.79Q 2. Leonel Manzano, Texas 4:03.90Q 3. Alphonsous Suravicz, St. Francis (Pa.) 4:03.95Q 4. Bryan Lindsay, Brigham Young 4:04.04q 5. John Jefferson, Indiana 4:04.21q 6. Sean Jefferson, Indiana 4:04.43q 7. Evan Fox, Stanford 4:06.14

Distance Medley Relay

 1. MICHIGAN 9:30.82 (Rondell Ruff, Stann Waithe, Andrew Ellerton, Nate Brannen) 2. UCLA 9:33.60 3. Wisconsin 9:34.80 4. Stanford 9:35.55 5. Washington 9:36.40 6. Notre Dame 9:36.67 7. Brigham Young 9:37.09 8. Missouri 9:39.43 9. Virginia 9:42.43 -- Arkansas DQ

Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423