Michigan
Texas Invitational
Ellis Breaks Hammer Throw School Record at Texas
4/13/2018 10:48:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
» Joe Ellis broke his own hammer throw school record by two centimeters in a win over national No. 6-ranked Adam Kelly of Princeton.
» Andrew Liskowitz posted the best shot put series of his career, coming up just two centimeters shy of his lifetime best, but posted the Wolverines' best-ever mark in the month of April.
» Action continues Saturday with the final day of the Texas Invitational
Site: Austin, Texas (Mike A. Myers Stadium)
Event: Texas Invitational
U-M Team Result: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Saturday, April 14 - Texas Invitational (Day Two)
AUSTIN, Texas -- Joe Ellis topped his own school record in the hammer throw to highlight the University of Michigan men's track and field team's first of two days of competition at the Texas Invitational on Friday (April 13).
After lightning from a persistent weather system struck in and around the Austin area caused a delay of more than four hours, Ellis and teammate Grant Cartwright made sure the hammer throw competition was worth the wait.
SCHOOL RECORD! Joe goes 71.00m (232-11) on throw 3!
— Michigan Track & Field / Cross Country (@UMichTrack) April 13, 2018
Breaks his own record from last year's @bigten Championships by 2 centimeters.
3 more throws to go! pic.twitter.com/LvwZ7y98SV
Ellis topped his school record from last year's Big Ten Championships by two centimeters, landing the hammer 71.00m (232 feet, 11 inches) as the winning toss in one of the best series of throws in his career, while Cartwright needed only two throws to surpass his own career best from last year in a fourth-place finish at 65.47m (214-9). Manning Plater gave the Wolverines three in the nine-man final with an eighth-place finish at 55.70m (182-9).
The writing was on the wall for Ellis' record-breaking day early, after the junior opened with a mark of 68.02m (223-2) on his first attempt -- a mark he has exceeded only twice in opening throws.
He followed up with a 69.27m (227-3) heave on his second attempt before his historic school-record mark on throw three.
His final three throws started off on a promising note at 68.63m (225-2), but he closed out the afternoon with two straight fouls.
Ellis did enough to take down the nation's sixth-ranked hammer thrower on the year in Adam Kelly of Princeton. Ellis' three best throws on the day were all superior to Kelly's best mark of 68.48m (224-8).
Cartwright, making his 2018 outdoor debut, launched a mark of 65.47m (214-9) on his second throw -- an improvement of 37 centimeters from his career-best at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships last May, and an improvement of more than four-meters from his season opener at Duke a year ago.
Cartwright was back in action later in the shot put alongside Andrew Liskowitz, with both men making their outdoor debuts for the first time since both competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last June.
Liskowitz came up two centimeters shy of his career best with a fifth-round mark of 19.13m (62-9.25) to take third, and Cartwright came through on his final attempt with an 18.19m (59-8.25) mark to take fifth.
While his best mark of the night was not quite a career best, Liskowitz's overall series could qualify as a career-best performance. Beyond his fifth-round throw, he also tossed three others that surpassed 62 feet: his opening 18.90m (62-0.25), a third-round 18.95m (62-2.25) and a final-round 18.92m (62-1).
Those marks together gave Liskowitz an average of 18.975m on his four legal throws -- the best overall average of his career, indoors or outdoors. It was also the first time he had posted four throws of 62 feet or farther in the same competition.
The 19-meter mark was exceptional for this point in the season, as well. Prior to Liskowitz on Friday, no Wolverine man had ever surpassed 19 meters in the month of April.
Cartwright -- in both the shot and the hammer throw -- and Liskowitz joined Ellis as having virtually clinched their trips to the NCAA East Preliminaries (top-48 per event in the East Region), leaving the rest of the regular season and postseason to fine-tune their techniques.
Meanwhile in the pole vault, Kevin Haughn put together the best competition of the year in a fourth-place finish that tied his career best at 5.00m (16-4.75). Not only did Haughn equal the highest bar of his career outdoors -- he has gone four centimeters higher indoors -- he did so with first-attempt makes at all four heights he faced on the afternoon.
Ultimately, he was unable to get up and over at what would have been a career-best 5.10m (16-8.75).
In the lone track event of the day, five Wolverines competed in a very windy 200 meters competition; every race featured wind that exceeded the 2.0m/s standard for record keeping purposes and several that exceeded the allowable 4.0m/s limit for NCAA East Prelims qualifying.
Desmond Nicholas led the way with a runner-up finish in his section at 21.43 (+2.8m/s) for 24th overall.
U-M CAREER BESTS AT THE TEXAS INVITATIONAL
Grant Cartwright -- 65.47m (214-9) / Hammer Throw
Joe Ellis -- 71.00m (232-11) / Hammer Throw
Kevin Haughn -- 5.00m (16-4.75) / Pole Vault
FULL MICHIGAN RESULTS BY EVENT
w = wind-aided (greater than 2.0 meter-per-second [m/s] wind; marks with wind up to 4.0m/s are allowable for NCAA Preliminaries qualifying purposes)
100 Meters
To be contested Saturday
200 Meters
24. Desmond Nicholas / 21.43w (+2.8m/s)
35. Josiah Carpenter / 21.75w (+4.5m/s)
43. Desmond Melson / 21.98w (+3.8m/s)
55. Sierra Hendrix-Williams / 23.48w (+3.8m/s)
400 Meters
To be contested Saturday
100-Meter Hurdles
To be contested Saturday
400-Meter Hurdles
To be contested Saturday
4x400 Relay
To be contested Saturday
High Jump
To be contested Saturday
Pole Vault
4. Kevin Haughn / 5.00m (16-4.75)
8. Nick Burkhalter / 4.75m (15-7)
Triple Jump
To be contested Saturday
Shot Put
3. Andrew Liskowitz / 19.13m (62-9.25)
5. Grant Cartwright / 18.19m (59-8.25)
11. Manning Plater / 15.35m (50-4.5)
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Discus
To be contested Saturday
Hammer Throw
1. Joe Ellis / 71.00m (232-11)
4. Grant Cartwright / 65.47m (214-9)
8. Manning Plater / 57.92m (190-0)
Players Mentioned
