Michigan
Gina Relays
Cartwright Captures Discus Crown on Final Day at Hillsdale
4/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
April 25, 2015
• Complete Results | Notes & Quotes
Site: Hillsdale, Mich. (Ken Herrick Outdoor Track)
Event: Gina Relays (Day 3)
U-M Team Result: Non-scoring
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sat., May 1-2 -- at Adidas/Steve Scott Invitational (Irvine, Calif.), Noon/2 p.m. PDT
HILLSDALE, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's track and field team wrapped up its weekend at Hillsdale College today (Saturday, April 25) with a title in the discus from sophomore/freshman Grant Cartwright, who picked up his first career victory with a winning throw of 161-04 ft. (49.18m) at Ken Herrick Outdoor Track.
Cartwright emerged from a field of 33 athletes in today's discus final after finishing fourth in the shot put yesterday afternoon (Friday, April 24). His victory gives U-M throwers three titles on the weekend (shot put, hammer throw, discus).
In the 400-meter race, senior/junior Philip Washington III earned a third-place finish with his time of 49.59, a season-fastest mark for any Wolverine so far this season. Later in the 800m event, senior/junior Ben Reed finished 14th when he crossed at 1:53.60.
Senior/junior Brandon Alfond also picked up a top-five finish with his performance in the javelin. Alfond threw 156-06 ft. (47.71m) for fifth place in a field of 26 athletes.
• Previous Results: Day 2 | Day 1
N O T E S
• With Grant Cartwright's win in the discus (161-04 ft.; 49.18m), U-M has picked up event titles in three throwing events in Hillsdale. The other two wins came from Derek Sievers in the shot put (61-2 ft.; 18.68m) and Brad Bolton in the hammer throw (194-09 ft.; 59.37m).
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Jerry Clayton
On the progress of the throwers this season, who picked up three wins this weekend ... "It was good to see Derek (Sievers) back in form. He had a real good competition, and is just starting to find his rhythm back. It is only his second meet of the outdoor season, so that was good to see. Brad (Bolton)'s mark was a season-best, and he continues to try to get back into the form he was in last year. Today also went well for Grant (Cartwright), who is working on some things technically, and some of it is starting to work out. It was good under the conditions that we were in. There was a pretty strong back wind, which is not good for discus, but he still competed well, especially going through finals. That is a big step in the season and next week we will be able to have a more elite group traveling."
On the importance of distance athletes and sprinters who did not compete this weekend maintaining form and health with time off ... "The biggest key here is the timing of finals (this week and next at U-M). We always want to make sure our people are taking care of what they need to take care of in the classroom first and foremost, and so we made adjustments. This is a traditionally big weekend with the Drake and Penn Relays but we had to scale that back so we could maintain our success in the classroom, which is the number one priority. We had a couple of people who were better off just training through, and we had a few trying to get healthy so that is critical, too. It worked out with finals, recovery and training giving us the opportunity to regroup for next week."
On what can be accomplished next week in California ... "The biggest component is that we will be done with finals. In my experience with the various teams I have been affiliated with, it is really rough the week going into finals and once exams are over, athletes tend to be more relaxed, getting better sleep and their focus can be more on athletics. The critical thing about this next weekend is for our top people, this is the final staging for them in their preparation for the championship phase of the season, which is two weeks out from the Big Ten meet. That is why we chose to go in the direction we are going in; to get them the competition they need to prepare them for going into the Big Ten Championships. We are also trying to get performances that will rank them high enough on the NCAA Descending order list to get them into the preliminary round of the NCAA meet (NCAA East Regional). We will compete a few people the week before Big Tens because Big Tens are so close this year it is not a travel issue. We would really like to have everyone step up at the Big Ten Championships, that is one of our main goals."
Communications Contact: Chad Shepard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
