Michigan
Iowa State Classic
Ellis' Historic Weight Throw Headlines Day One of Road Trip
2/9/2018 11:34:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
» Joe Ellis came within one centimeter of teammate Grant Cartwright's weight-throw school record, tossing 23.30m (76 feet, 5.5 inches) in his third-and-final career-best throw of the night. He finished 1-2 with Cartwright in the event.
» Ben Flanagan moved to No. 10 all-time in the Michigan 5,000-meters list with a dramatic 13:48.58 run at the Iowa State Classic.
» Action continues around the country on Saturday for the Wolverines with second-day competition at Vanderbilt and Iowa State, and the sprinters and jumpers at the Kent State National Qualifier.
Student-athletes from the national No. 20-ranked University of Michigan men's track and field team competed Friday at both the Iowa State Classic (distance runners) and Vanderbilt Music City Challenge (throwers). Keep reading for highlights from both meets, and check back tomorrow for recaps of Day 2 action from those two meets and the Kent Sate National Qualifier.
Site: Nashville, Tenn. (Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility)
Event: Vanderbilt Music City Challenge
U-M Team Result: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 10 -- Kent State Qualifier (Kent, Ohio), Vanderbilt Commodore Classic Day Two (Nashville, Tenn.), Iowa State Classic Day Two (Ames, Iowa)
• Complete Results
Joe Ellis turned in a weight-throw competition for the ages Friday night (Feb. 9) at the Vanderbilt Music City Challenge, not only taking over the top spot on the national NCAA leaderboard in the event, but also earning a spot on the list of all-time great collegiate throwers.
A sequence of three consecutive personal-record throws to kick off his evening culminated in a heave of 23.30m (76 feet, 5.5 inches), moving Ellis past North Carolina State's Josh Davis -- whom both he and teammate Grant Cartwright defeated head-to-head last weekend at the Power Five Invitational -- by six centimeters into the NCAA lead.
Ellis and Cartwright again finished 1-2 in the competition on Friday night, marking the third time the All-American duo has swept the top spots in as many competitions this season. Cartwright lobbed a season's best-tying mark of 22.33m (73-3.25) on his sixth-and-final throw for his best of the day.
With his mark, Ellis came within one centimeter of Cartwright's school record 23.31m (76-5.5) from last year's Big Ten Championships, but did manage to break into the all-time collegiate top-25 in the event, landing at No. 19 on the performers list.
Incidentally, Ellis checked in just one centimeter behind teammate Cartwright and one centimeter ahead of Auburn's Cory Martin, whom current Michigan co-head coach Jerry Clayton mentored during his tenure at that school.
The Cartwright-Ellis duo now has the distinction of being the only pair of teammates in collegiate history to have thrown 23.30m or farther during their NCAA careers.
Right from Ellis' first throw it was apparent that a historic night would be in the offing. His first-round throw of 22.76m (74-8.25) improved his lifetime personal record by five centimeters, setting the stage for fireworks in rounds two and three.
He followed up with a second-attempt heave of 23.28m (76-4.5) to take over the national lead from NC State's Josh Davis and break the facility record, and extended those credentials by two centimeters on his next attempt.
With those back-to-back 23-meter-plus throws in rounds two and three, Ellis became the first man in school history to log multiple 23-meter throws in his career, let alone a single competition. He is also the only man in the nation this year to have gone 23 meters or farther multiple times.
Though he did not improve on his final three throws, he did manage an impressive fifth-round mark of 22.92m (75-2.5).
All told, Ellis ended the day with the second-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-best individual throws in school history (in addition to the sixth-best from last weekend).
Manning Plater took 12th on the evening, throwing 17.75m (58-3).
Cartwright will be back for the shot put at 2 p.m. CT along with Andrew Liskowitz, while sprinter Taylor McLaughlin will contest the 400m at 3:35 p.m. CT. Liskowitz and Cartwright are both coming off career-best performances in the shot put last weekend, and the best combined performance by teammates in school history.
Site: Ames, Iowa (Lied Recreation Center)
Event: Iowa State Classic
U-M Team Result: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 10 -- Kent State Qualifier (Kent, Ohio), Vanderbilt Commodore Classic Day 2 (Nashville, Tenn.), Iowa State Classic Day 2 (Ames, Iowa)
• Complete Results
In his first full race since his historic cross country season, Ben Flanagan turned in one of the fastest performances at 5,000 meters ever recorded by a Michigan runner, headlining a strong first day of action at the distance-heavy Iowa State Classic on Friday (Feb. 9).
Flanagan clocked a career-best 13:48.58 to take second in the second-fastest section of the race, uncorking a perfectly timed closing kick to move from outside the top-10 with a mile to go. Entering the day ranked No. 10 in school history as the fastest man in Michigan history to not break the 14-minute barrier, he broke through in a big way on Friday, improving his PR by nearly 15 seconds from 14:02.91.
Among those bypassed on the all-time list by Flanagan on Friday night include All-Americans and NCAA Champions in Brad Barquist, Mason Ferlic, Craig Forys, Morsi Rayyan and John Scherer. His performance is the fastest by a Wolverine since Dan Lowry and Bobby Aprill clocked 14:42.48 and 13:44.34, respectively, at the Washington Husky Classic on this weekend in 2013.
Flanagan found himself in seventh place with 1,500 meters to go -- five laps on the oversized 300-meter track at Iowa State -- after a move that propelled him past three opposing runners. He kept the momentum rolling through the next few laps, moving up to fifth with 1,200 meters to go and to second with 600 meters left in the race.
Flanagan made a strong move heading into the final lap, bypassing leader Connor McMillan of BYU to take over the lead at the bell. Flanagan and McMillan battled back and forth over the last 300 meters, with McMillan ultimately gaining the upper hand on the final straightaway.
Micah Beller nearly toppled his own personal record in the event, running 14:06.95 to take 13th in the race and 14th overall in the combined non-invitational section standings.
In the first section of the 3,000 meters, Billy Bund ran a career-best 8:10.04 to take fifth in the race and true freshman Jack Aho clocked a career-best 8:17.04 to take 11th. They finished 15th and 23rd, respectively, in the combined non-invitational section standings.
Aaron Baumgarten ran 8:21.90 in the second section to take 15th in his race and 27th overall.
Chase Barnett, Connor Mora and the Michigan milers take center stage at Iowa State on Saturday, starting at 12:50 p.m. CT.
New U-M Collegiate Career Bests on Saturday
Jack Aho -- 8:17.04 / 3000m
Billy Bund -- 8:10.04 / 3000m
Joe Ellis -- 23.30m (76-5.5) / Weight Throw
Ben Flanagan -- 13:48.58 / 5000m
3,000 Meters (Non-Invitational at Iowa State)
15. Billy Bund / 8:10.04
23. Jack Aho / 8:17.04
27. Aaron Baumgarten / 8:21.90
5,000 Meters (Non-Invitational at Iowa State)
2. Ben Flanagan / 13:48.58
14. Micah Beller / 14:06.95
Weight Throw (at Vanderbilt)
1. Joe Ellis / 23.30m (76-5.5)
2. Grant Cartwright / 22.33m (73-3.25)
12. Manning Plater / 17.75m (58-3)
Players Mentioned
