Michigan
NCAA Outdoor Championships (Day 1)
Ellerton, Willis Advance at Day One of NCAA Outdoors
6/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Junior Andrew Ellerton (Sudbury, Ontario/Confederation HS) and junior/sophomore Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) posted qualifying performances in the 800- and 5,000-meter running events, respectively, as the University of Michigan men's track and field team opened competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Wednesday (June 8) at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.
Ellerton registered a season-best 1:47.88 to win the fourth heat in the 800-meter run and pick up an automatic qualifier to the semfinal round. Starting the race in the inside lane, Ellerton settled into the back of the eight-man field at the break and remained there through the first lap as the pack came through the opening 400 meters at 52.23 -- the fastest opening split among the four preliminary heats. The Wolverine cut to the outside down the backstretch and gradually pushed toward the front before coming out the bend in the third position. Ellerton used his kick to take a slim lead in the final straightaway as the top three finished just 0.25 seconds apart. Ellerton's time was the fastest of the preliminary round and improved his season best by 0.47 seconds.
Willis ran the fastest time in either heat in the 5,000-meter run, clocking in at 13:54.24 for first place in heat two and earning a berth into Saturday's final. His time was just 0.10 seconds off his personal best set at the NCAA Mideast Regional in May, and it marked Willis' third straight.win in the 5,000-meters event. After hanging with the middle of the pack through the first several laps as the 13-man field split 5:41.93 at the 2,000-meter mark, Willis gradually dropped back several positions until finally settling into last place with just four laps to go. The Wolverine remained at the rear for about 600 meters before starting to work his way back up to the front, using the turns to move around competitors, three or four at a time. Willis led the second pack in the sixth position at the bell, and after closing the gap on the leaders down the backstretch, used the final bend to push to the front. He held off the opposition in the home straightaway, clocking 29.6 over the last 200 meters and beating runner-up Ian Dobson of Stanford by 0.06 seconds.
As a steady rain picked up just prior to the starting gun, sophomore Stann Waithe (Towson, Md./Loch Raven HS) could not make up the stagger out of lane three, placing sixth in the first heat of the 400-meter dash. Waithe ended his stretch of personal-best performances, clocking a time of 47.04 to miss the semifinal cut.
Three Wolverines will hit the track tomorrow (Thursday, June 9) for the second day of competition at the NCAA Championships. Ellerton will run the 800-meter semifinals at 6:30 p.m. PDT, while the 1,500-meter preliminaries, featuring freshman Mike Woods (Ottawa, Ontario/Hillcrest HS) and senior/junior Rondell Ruff (Detroit, Mich./Henry Ford HS), kick off at 7:35 p.m.
Event Winners/U-M Finishes (Day 1)
400-meter Dash (Preliminaries) Heat 1 1. Andrae Williams, Texas Tech 45.41Q 6. Stann Waithe, U-M 47.04 800-meter Run (Preliminaries) Heat 4 1. Andrew Ellerton, U-M 1:47.88Q 5,000-meter Run (Preliminaries) Heat 2 1. Nick Willis, U-M 13:54.24Q Q qualified for the next round
Q U O T E S
Junior Andrew Ellerton
On his 800-meter preliminary ... "My race went better than what I was expecting. It felt really good. I was thinking I would have to work a little harder than I actually did. I ended up with the fastest seed time. I was a little surprised at how slow the other heats went. I was just shooting for a top three. I saw that Johnathan Johnson was in my heat, and he's probably the favorite coming in here. I was just expecting him to take it, and I'd run a comfortable top three. When it came down to the homestretch, there was a guy from Baylor starting to come on, and I didn't want to take any chances, so I just pushed that extra little bit just to make sure. I didn't have to work too hard, and it felt pretty comfortable. It was also the fastest time I've run all year. It gives me a lot more confidence going into tomorrow and Saturday."
Junior/Sophomore Nick Willis
On his preliminary ... "It was a really nice night, and the weather was really good, so I was in a pretty confident mood. The first heat went so slow, I knew no matter what I did in the race I was going to qualify. It was just a matter of getting in there and running 12 and half laps. I didn't really have any race plan. I qualified, so it was fun."
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
