Michigan
Texas Invitational
Texas Invitational Up Next for Wolverine Men This Weekend
4/11/2018 3:14:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
» Michigan's sprinters, throwers and jumpers will be in action at the Texas Invitational.
» All-American hammer thrower Joe Ellis will look to build on the momentum of his record-breaking 2018 debut, with fellow All-American throwers Andrew Liskowitz and Grant Cartwright set to make their debuts.
» Building off his best 400-meter hurdles debut last weekend, Taylor McLaughlin will lead a hurdles group that is among the nation's best.
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THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., April 13-14 -- Texas Invitational (Austin, Texas), 12 p.m. CDT/10:30 a.m. CDT
Meet Information | Live Results
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Coming off a Battle of the Blues team title powered by two-dozen career-best performances, the University of Michigan men's track and field team will look to keep its momentum going as it competes at the Texas Invitational on Friday and Saturday (April 13-14).
Wolverine sprinters, jumpers and throwers will look to take advantage of the warm Texas weather to improve on strong season-opening marks from early-season meets at Miami, Arizona State and Duke, respectively, and in the process bolster their Big Ten and NCAA postseason aspirations.
Michigan will compete against a field of teams that includes host Texas, Texas State, McNeese State, UTSA, UTEP, Stephen F. Austin, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Houston, Princeton, Baylor and UT-Arlington.
Field events in Friday's session kick off with the hammer throw at noon CDT. Action on the track will start for Michigan at 6:40 p.m. with the 200 meters. Saturday's program begins at 10:30 a.m. with the discus and on the track at 12:35 p.m. with the 110-meter hurdles. Action is expected to wrap up just after 3 p.m. on Saturday.
All-American hammer thrower Joe Ellis and All-American hurdler Taylor McLaughlin are looking to build off their career best signature-event debuts at Duke last weekend and climb even further up the national leaderboards, while All-American throwers Grant Cartwright and Andrew Liskowitz are slated for their 2018 outdoor openers.
For those up-and-coming Wolverines also making the trip to the Lone Star State, it also serves as an opportunity to position themselves for a run at a qualifying berth to the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds. Held in Tampa, Florida, over Memorial Day weekend, the East Prelims will pit against each other the East Region's top 48 athletes in each event (after accounting for the events in which everyone declares their intent to compete) in order to determine who will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in June.
For more on the NCAA East Prelims qualifying process and where the Wolverines stand at present, see the "Michigan in the NCAA East Prelims Rankings" section below.
Live results for the meet will be available from Primetime Timing as the meet approaches, and fans can always follow the latest updates directly from the program's official social media channels.
WHEN TO FOLLOW THE WOLVERINES
| Wolverines Competing This Weekend | |||
| FRIDAY, APRIL 13 | |||
| Name | Event | Round | Time |
| Grant Cartwright | Hammer Throw | Final | 12:00 PM CT |
| Joe Ellis | Hammer Throw | Final | 12:00 PM CT |
| Manning Plater | Hammer Throw | Final | 12:00 PM CT |
| Nick Burkhalter | Pole Vault | Final | 2:00 PM CT |
| Kevin Haughn | Pole Vault | Final | 2:00 PM CT |
| Josiah Carpenter | 200 meter dash | Final | 6:40 PM CT |
| Taylor McLaughlin | 200 meter dash | Final | 6:40 PM CT |
| Desmond Melson | 200 meter dash | Final | 6:40 PM CT |
| Desmond Nicholas | 200 meter dash | Final | 6:40 PM CT |
| Alex Schwedt | 200 meter dash | Final | 6:40 PM CT |
| Blake Washington | 200 meter dash | Final | 6:40 PM CT |
| Grant Cartwright | Shot Put | Final | 7:00 PM CT |
| Andrew Liskowitz | Shot Put | Final | 7:00 PM CT |
| Manning Plater | Shot Put | Final | 7:00 PM CT |
| SATURDAY, APRIL 14 | |||
| Grant Cartwright | Discus | Final | 10:30 AM CT |
| Andrew Liskowitz | Discus | Final | 10:30 AM CT |
| Manning Plater | Discus | Final | 10:30 AM CT |
| Alex Klemm | High Jump | Final | 12:00 PM CT |
| Brandon Piwinski | High Jump | Final | 12:00 PM CT |
| Max Wagner | High Jump | Final | 12:00 PM CT |
| Roland Amarteifio | 110 meter hurdles | Final | 12:35 PM CT |
| Noah Caudy | 110 meter hurdles | Final | 12:35 PM CT |
| Sierra Hendrix-Williams | 110 meter hurdles | Final | 12:35 PM CT |
| Sean Marshall | 110 meter hurdles | Final | 12:35 PM CT |
| Vail Hartman | 400 meter dash | Final | 1:05 PM CT |
| Desmond Melson | 400 meter dash | Final | 1:05 PM CT |
| Alex Schwedt | 400 meter dash | Final | 1:05 PM CT |
| Blake Washington | 400 meter dash | Final | 1:05 PM CT |
| Khoury Crenshaw | 100 meter dash | Final | 1:25 PM CT |
| Desmond Nicholas | 100 meter dash | Final | 1:25 PM CT |
| Kevin Stephens | Triple Jump | Final | 1:30 PM CT |
| Noah Caudy | 400 meter hurdles | Final | 2:05 PM CT |
| Roland Amarteifio | 400 meter hurdles | Final | 2:05 PM CT |
| Sean Marshall | 400 meter hurdles | Final | 2:05 PM CT |
| Taylor McLaughlin | 400 meter hurdles | Final | 2:05 PM CT |
| Amarteifio, Melson, Washington Schwedt |
4x400 relay | Final | 3:00 PM CT |
MICHIGAN'S TOP CONTENDERS
• Last season it took Joe Ellis four meets to crack the 70-meter barrier for the first time in his career, tossing a school-record 70.98m (232 feet, 10 inches) on his final throw at the Big Ten Championships to claim Michigan's first title in the event since the 1930s. This year, it only took him five throws to surpass that threshold, as he launched a 70.15m (230-2) bomb to claim the Battle of the Blues title in his season debut (April 6). That throw was not a flash in the pan for Ellis, as all of his five measured throws were superior to his 66.34m (217-8) opener at the 2017 Battle of the Blues, and four of the five throws exceeded the 68.00m (223-1) he posted at this same Texas Invitational a year ago.
• After opting to delay their 2018 outdoor debuts another week, the All-American pair of Grant Cartwright and Andrew Liskowitz are slated to carry full workloads in Austin this weekend. Cartwright will compete in the hammer throw and shot put on Friday and the discus on Saturday, while Liskowitz is in the shot put and discus fields. Cartwright is looking to qualify for the NCAA East Prelims in all three events for the second year in a row -- a feat accomplished by only 13 men in 2017.
• Like Ellis, All-American 400-meter hurdler Taylor McLaughlin is off to the best start of his sterling career in his signature event. His 50.86 clocking to lead a 1-2-3-4 Michigan sweep at the Battle of the Blues was his fastest season debut in the event by nearly two-thirds of a second, and it was a time he did not match until this weekend a year ago (in his third try at the event that season). He may have company at the NCAA East Prelims in the event this year as Roland Amarteifio is ranked 20th at 52.41, Noah Caudy is 37th at 52.89 and Sean Marshall is 44th at 53.21. In the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's "Event Squad Rankings," which calculates the best quartets in each event by school, Michigan ranks fourth nationally as one of only four schools with four men ranked in the top 100 nationally (McLaughlin is No. 8, Amarteifio is No. 55, Caudy is No. 86 and Marshall is No. 97).
MICHIGAN IN THE NCAA EAST RANKINGS
Listed below are all the Wolverine men who are ranked among the top-48 individuals in their respective events. Why 48? That is the cutoff for qualifying to the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Tampa, Florida, next month. The NCAA East Prelims serve as the gateway to qualifying for June's NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Michigan has 16 entries positioned within qualifying range, which would equal last year's count of competitors at the NCAA East Prelims. Last year's 16-entry contingent was the second largest in school history during the NCAA Prelims Round Era (2010-present), trailing only the 18-entry group Michigan fielded in 2016.
Notably absent from this are the awaited debuts of the throwers Liskowitz and Cartwright in their events, as well as the long-distance contingent in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs. The Wolverines are also just beyond the 24-team cutoff in the 4x400 relay.
Athletes ranked top-15 in their events are near-locks to advance to the NCAA East Prelims. Those ranked from that cutoff through No. 30 are on the fence of advancing at this point as marks will continue improving around the nation as the spring progresses, but they would be best served to improve their mark to secure a spot. From there through No. 48, an improved mark will be required to hold on to their top-48 positioning.
| Name | Event | Rank |
| Taylor McLaughlin | 200m | 22 |
| Anthony Berry | 800m | 25 |
| Chase Barnett | 800m | 34 |
| Connor Mora | 1,500m | 20 |
| Anthony Berry | 1,500m | 36 |
| Roland Amarteifio | 110H | 41 |
| Taylor McLaughlin | 400H | 4 |
| Roland Amarteifio | 400H | 20 |
| Noah Caudy | 400H | 37 |
| Sean Marshall | 400H | 44 |
| Andrew Lorant | Steeplechase | 25 |
| Austin Benoit | Steeplechase | 39 |
| Daniel Butael | Triple Jump | 28 |
| Kevin Stephens, Jr. | Triple Jump | 46 |
| Joe Ellis | Hammer | 8 |
| Manning Plater | Hammer | 40 |
Players Mentioned
