Michigan to Host 2019 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships
3/12/2018 4:57:00 PM | General, Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan has been selected as the host site of the 2019 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships, marking the first major championship event held at its brand new, world-class U-M Indoor Track Building.
Having recently completed its inaugural four-meet home schedule, the new facility -- which features one of only seven hydraulic-banked 200-meter tracks housed on college campuses anywhere in the nation -- will host the conference meet on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22-23, 2019, for the first time since staging the women's championships in 2005 and the men's meet in 2004.
"We are pleased to have been selected to host the Big Ten Championships in 2019 and to be taking another step in our goal of making the new U-M Indoor Track Building a premier national destination for track and field," U-M Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics Warde Manuel said. "Michigan has a rich history of hosting indoor track and field championship meets at both the Big Ten and NCAA levels, and we are proud to be renewing that tradition at our world-class facility."
In addition to having hosted the conference meet numerous times -- for the men in 1977, 1987, 1994 and 2004, and for the women in 1984, 1995 and 2005 -- Michigan also played host to the NCAA Indoor Championships from the inaugural 1965 edition through 1983, held in Detroit and later Pontiac. The NCAA Indoor meet was co-founded by, among others, former U-M Director of Athletics and track and field coach Don Canham.
After a six-year run of Big Ten Championship meets held at the neutral-site SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, the meet returns to a college campus for the first time since Nebraska hosted the 2012 edition. The 2019 championships at Michigan will also mark just the third time in conference history that both genders will conduct their championships on the same college campus (1982 at Indiana, 2012 at Nebraska).
"We are honored to have been selected as the host of next year's Big Ten Indoor Championships, and we are excited that the conference meet is returning to the campus of a school within the conference," co-head coach James Henry said. "As a program, we want to thank everyone here at Michigan and those at the Big Ten who helped make this vision of hosting the 2019 meet in our new home a reality."
The Big Ten Indoor Championships will return to the SPIRE Institute for the 2020 edition of the meet.
Next season's conference meet will be the highest-profile competition yet in the new U-M Indoor Track Building, which hosted four home meets in its inaugural 2018 campaign.
"This is the kind of meet that our state-of-the-art indoor facility was built for," co-head coach Jerry Clayton said. "We are grateful for this opportunity to host the Big Ten Championships, and we know this facility will live up to its billing as one of the best in the world when we welcome in the rest of the conference next February."
Permanent seating for 2,000 spectators -- presently configured to expand to 3,500 with temporary seating -- overlooks the hydraulic banked track surfaced with the same Beynon material used at IAAF, USATF and NCAA championship meets around the world. Able to be banked up to 10 degrees using Beynon's "Rise-N-Run" system, the track can also be lowered to flat to utilize the sprints straightaway running alongside the bleachers.
The interior of the competition oval features two pole vault runways and two horizontal jumps runways, in addition to ample space for a shot put sector and multiple high jump pits. A weight throw sector is housed adjacent to and outside of the oval on the facility's south side. The building's layout allows for up to seven field events to be run simultaneously.
An additional four-lane 100-meter straightaway adjacent to the backstretch of the oval can be curtained off and used exclusively for staging warm-ups for upcoming events on the track, with additional general warm-up space available throughout the facility.
With a large videoboard that simultaneously displays live results from both track events and field events, and a concessions stand built into the facility, spectators are able to both follow along with and enjoy the meet.
The new facility is located just over a mile from I-94 and in range of numerous hotels and dining options, making it -- and Ann Arbor as a whole, just a 30-mile drive from the Detroit Metro Airport -- an ideal and easily-accessible destination for both participants and spectators alike.
