Willis Receives Second Straight Big Ten Weekly Honor

PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- University of Michigan junior/sophomore Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) garnered his second consecutive Big Ten Conference weekly recognition on Monday (May 2), earning co-Athlete of the Week honors for men's track and field after contributing to the Wolverines' distance relay sweep at the Penn Relays. He shared the honor with Indiana's Aarik Wilson.

Willis

The Wolverines boasted a trio of relay wins in dominant fashion at the prestigious meet, capturing the top prize in the distance medley (9:22.57, 4xMile (16:04.54) and 4x800m (7:22.59) events. Their performance in the 4xMile established a new collegiate record, shaving 3.42 seconds from the previous record (16:07.96) set by Arkansas in 1999.

Willis was joined by senior/junior Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS) and junior Andrew Ellerton (Sudbury, Ontario/Confederation HS) on all three relays, while sophomore Stann Waithe (Towson, Md./Loch Raven HS) competed on the DMR, freshman Mike Woods (Ottawa, Ontario/Hillcrest HS) on the 4xMile and senior/junior Rondell Ruff (Detroit, Mich./Henry Ford HS) on the 4x800m.

Anchoring the distance medley relay on Friday (April 29), Willis blazed a split of 3:55.1 -- the eighth fastest 1,600-meter split in Penn Relays history -- while the Wolverines similarily boasted the eighth-fastest DMR performance in meet history. The following day, Willis posted U-M's quickest split in the 4xMile, recording 3:56.2 over the third leg, and returned three hours later to clock 1:48.6 as the second leg of the 4x800-meter relay.

In recognition of his two-day performance, Willis was named Male College Athlete of the Relays for the second time in three years; he earned the distinction in 2003 after the Penn Relays record for his 1,200-meter opening split (2:48.7) in the distance medley relay. He is just the seventh athlete to receive the honor multiple times since it was introduced in 1957.

With a four Big Ten Athlete of the Week certificates -- two for indoor, two for outdoor -- Willis has garnered more conference weekly recognition this season than any other individual in the conference. Only two other Big Ten student-athletes have received multiple weekly distinction; U-M's Brannen, Indiana's Aarik Wilson, Purdue's Nedzad Mulabegovic have each earned a pair of honors. Willis has eight conference weekly awards in his U-M career.

The Wolverines will host the annual Len Paddock Invitational -- their lone outdoor home meet -- on Friday and Saturday, May 6-7, at Ferry Field. The final tuneup before the postseason, the meet is slated to begin at 11 a.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423

University of Michigan Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Nate Brannen

Andrew Ellerton

Rondell Ruff

Stann Waithe

Nick Willis

Mike Woods

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