Michigan
Power Five Invitatonal
Power Five Invitational Set to Draw National-Caliber Field
1/31/2018 5:51:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
» Teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC -- including three other national top-25 teams -- will compete in the highest-profile meet of the new U-M Indoor Track Building's inaugural home schedule.
» A strong distance medley-relay field against three teams that made the NCAA Championships a year ago headlines the Friday night session.
» The All-American weight-throw duo of Grant Cartwright and Joe Ellis; sprinters Taylor McLaughlin, Jandon Briscoe and Khoury Crenshaw and distance runner Aaron Baumgarten are the highlights of Saturday's main action.
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat, Feb. 2-3 -- Power Five Invitational (U-M Indoor Track Building),
Feb. 2 -- noon; Feb. 3 -- 9:30 a.m.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- More than 100 track and field student-athletes, many ranked top-50 nationally, from teams representing all of the "Power Five" conferences are set to converge at the University of Michigan this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 2-3) for one of the nation's premier indoor meets.
The national No. 29-ranked Wolverine men will host the two-day Power Five Invitational -- the highest-profile competition of the new U-M Indoor Track Building's inaugural season -- against national-caliber teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.
Squaring off against Michigan are Big Ten rivals No. 22 Indiana and Minnesota; ACC foes Duke, Louisville, Miami (Fla.), NC State and No. 24 Virginia; Baylor from the Big 12; and No. 17 Stanford from the Pac-12. The women-only Vanderbilt program hails from the SEC.
The two-day competition culminates in an action-packed Saturday session featuring only top-seeded sections of both the track events and field events. Field events kick off the day at 11 a.m., followed by the track program starting at noon.
Saturday's action is preceded by a Friday session that begins at noon with the combined events. The full Friday-night track program begins at 4:15 p.m. with prelim rounds for Saturday's 60 meters and 60-meter hurdles finals.
Three top-seed track finals headline Friday's schedule, starting with the 5,000 meters at 5:20 p.m., followed by the distance-medley relay and the 600 meters. The evening closes with unseeded sections of the 200, 400, mile and 3,000 -- all of which will run top-seeded sections on Saturday.
Between the 10 men's teams in the field, nearly 50 student-athletes are ranked top-50 nationally in their respective individual events, plus numerous national-level relay teams.
Doors open for spectators at 10:30 a.m. on Friday and 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, and attendance for the meet is free of charge. Parking is available in the parking lots both directly north and south of the new facility, which is located on 2540 S. State St.
Those unable to be at the world-class facility's 2,000+ spectator capacity bleachers can still follow from afar, both with live results from Delta Timing and by following live updates on the program's official social media channels.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• There is no more high-profile matchup in any event for either gender than the men's weight throw at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Coming off the best weight-throw season debut by a pair of teammates in collegiate history, All-Americans Joe Ellis and Grant Cartwright -- ranked No. 2 and No. 4 nationally, respectively -- will square off with collegiate leader Josh Davis of North Carolina State and No. 12-ranked Andrew Miller of Indiana. Though Davis threw 23.24m (76 feet, 3 inches) in his season debut back in early December, both he and Ellis will enter the meet having thrown 22.53m (73-11) in their respective most-recent outings, with Cartwright not far behind at 22.33m (73-3.25).
• Friday's action on the track is highlighted by what is shaping up to be a hot race in the distance-medley relay. From among the relay pool of Chase Barnett, Anthony Berry, Jandon Briscoe, Jordy Hewitt, Connor Mora, Matt Plowman and Ryan Wilkie, the Wolverines will be looking to put down a time that would qualify them for the NCAA Championships in March. In the race with them are three schools that made the NCAA meet a year ago in fifth-place Indiana, ninth-place Minnesota and 12th-place Stanford.
• Jandon Briscoe made a splash in his collegiate debut at 400 meters three weekends ago, and Taylor McLaughlin asserted himself as the school record-holder two weeks ago. Now the two will be running together in the event for the first time on Saturday. Briscoe clocked an impressive 47.82 in his first collegiate race, while McLaughlin dropped a 47.36 to win at the line at the Simmons-Harvey Quad.
• Only fractions of a second separate Khoury Crenshaw from the top of the field in the 60 meters, which will run prelims on Friday and a final on Saturday. Crenshaw's career best of 6.71 puts him within striking distance of the top seeds Myles Valentine of Miami and Maxwell Willis of Baylor, both seeded at 6.65. Keeping up the pace in a quick race could put Crenshaw close to the school record of 6.60 posted by Adam Harris in 2009.
• Headlining the long-distance action is the top section of the 3,000 meters on Saturday, the final individual event of the weekend ahead of the 4x400 relays. After injecting some speed to run the mile at Boston, Aaron Baumgarten will step up the distance on Saturday for a race that is more in his wheelhouse. A top-five finisher at the Big Ten Championships in each of the past two years in this event, Baumgarten and teammate Jack Aho will be chasing the eight-minute barrier against the likes of Aubrey Myjer of NC State.
NEWS AND NOTES
• The Wolverines checked in at No. 29 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Rankings, down one spot from a week ago. While the men defeated higher-ranked teams in both Ohio State and Arkansas in the Simmons-Harvey Quad in their last full outing, the National Team Rankings are designed to project how teams might fare in a large NCAA Championships-style field, not in small dual-meet scenarios.
• A big factor in the Wolverines' Simmons-Harvey Quad win was the throws corps -- known as "The Meat Factory" -- of Big Ten Field Athlete of the Week Joe Ellis, Grant Cartwright and Andrew Liskowitz. All-Americans a year ago in the weight throw, Ellis and Cartwright were particularly strong over the weekend in their 1-2 finish in the weight. With Ellis throwing 22.55m (73-11.75) and Cartwright going 22.33m (73-3.25), they became the only pair of teammates in collegiate history to both surpass 22 meters in the same meet held in the month of January. In other words: they are picking up right where they left off last and are primed for a big season.
• Ellis, Cartwright and Liskowitz all shot right to the top of the Big Ten leaderboard after their season debuts, chief among the several other Wolverines excelling at the conference level through three weekends of competition:
| Name | Event | Rank |
| Taylor McLaughlin | 400m | 3 |
| Matt Plowman | 800m | 10 |
| Chase Barnett | Mile | 4 |
| Aaron Baumgarten | Mile | 6 |
| Connor Mora | Mile | 6 |
| Jack Aho | Mile | 8 |
| Micah Beller | 3000m | 8 |
| 4 x 400m Relay | 9 | |
| Daniel Butael | Triple Jump | 6 |
| Andrew Liskowitz | Shot Put | 2 |
| Grant Cartwright | Shot Put | 3 |
| Joe Ellis | Weight Throw | 1 |
| Grant Cartwright | Weight Throw | 2 |
• Ellis, Cartwright and Liskowitz also landed near the top of the national descending order lists in their events, with the weight throwers still checking in at No. 2 and No. 4, respectively, after a rest weekend. Here's the full list of Wolverines who have logged top-50 performances among the full NCAA Division I ranks:
| Name | Event | Rank |
| Taylor McLaughlin | 400m | 37 |
| Chase Barnett | Mile | 30 |
| Andrew Liskowitz | Shot Put | 16 |
| Grant Cartwright | Shot Put | 23 |
| Joe Ellis | Weight Throw | 2 |
| Grant Cartwright | Weight Throw | 4 |
Players Mentioned
