Michigan
National Relays Championships
Throwers Ellis, Liskowitz Smash School Records at Arkansas
4/28/2018 11:22:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Fayetteville, Ark. (John McDonnell Field)
Event: National Relay Championships (Day 2 of 2)
U-M Team Result: 10th Place of 16 Teams (8 points)
Next U-M Event: Thu-Fri., May 3-4 -- Toledo Invitational (Toledo, Ohio)
• Photo Gallery | Complete Results
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Relay events may have been the centerpiece of Saturday (April 28) night's action on the track at Arkansas' National Relay Championships, but the afternoon belonged to the University of Michigan men's track and field team's record-breaking throws duo of Joe Ellis and Andrew Liskowitz.
For the second time in as many competitions, Ellis broke his own hammer throw school record -- not once, but twice -- with a winning-mark of 72.16m (236 feet, 9 inches), while Liskowitz twice broke the school's three-year-old shot put record in a decisive win of his own at 20.28m (66-6.5).
In the scored relays-only section of the National Relay Championships, Michigan took 10th out of 16 teams with eight points. The Wolverines' points came by way of a fifth-place 4x800 finish, a seventh-place distance medley finish and eighth-place efforts in the 4x400 and 4x1,500 relays.
Ellis twice broke his school record on the day -- first with a second-attempt 71.51m (234-7) that topped his existing 71.00m (232-11) standard and finally his fifth-attempt 72.16m (236-9) -- en route to a victory over Florida's duo of national No. 3-ranked Anders Eriksson and No. 7 Thomas Mardal, respectively. The win was his sixth-consecutive regular-season victory.
His improvement of 116 centimeters -- approximately 3 feet, 10 inches -- not only shattered his school record, but it was enough to shoot him up to No. 5 nationally on the year.
Not only did Ellis break his school record, but he posted his best series of throws overall for his career. With his two school-record throws -- and a 71.13m (233-4) heave in between that was not a school record, but still impressive -- Saturday marked the first time he had thrown farther than 70 meters three times in the same competition, let alone 71 meters.
His average distance of 70.15m for his five measured throws topped his previous series-average best of 69.48m from the 2017 NCAA Championships, in which he placed eighth for first team All-America honors.
Later in the afternoon, it was Liskowitz's turn to rewrite the record book. After opening up with an impressive 19.06m (62-6.5) on his first throw, he followed up with back-to-back record throws. His second time in the ring resulted in a 19.78m (64-10.75) heave that dethroned Cody Riffle's 19.36m (63-7.5) from 2015 as the program record.
Moments later, he one-upped his own record with the 20.28m throw that ultimately won the competition for him over runner-up Jordan West of Tennessee at 19.70m (64-7.75) and national No. 9 Adrian Piperi of Texas (64-1.25).
Not only was the mark good enough for the win, it also moved Liskowitz to within four centimeters of the 2018 national lead set by Austin Droogsma of Florida State at 20.32m (66-8).
Like Ellis, Liskowitz's school record was not a one-off occurrence, but rather part of the best series of throws he has recorded. Including this first three throws and his fourth-round 19.60m (64-3.75) -- a mark that would have been a school record in its own right just half an hour prior -- his four measured throws averaged 19.68m (64-6.75), nearly 30 centimeters superior to Riffle's previous school record.
The performances by both Ellis and Liskowitz bode well for their potential fortunes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships later this summer, should they both advance. If they were to replicate their marks at NCAAs, history through this year indicates that neither man would finish lower than fifth in their respective events.
While Grant Cartwright's day in both the hammer and the shot put may have been overshadowed by his teammates' all-time performances, he himself also had a career-best-type of day.
Cartwright exceeded his existing career-best mark in the hammer three times on the day, topping out at 67.12m (220-2) to move into a tie for No. 21 nationally as of publication. The mark puts him in the conversation of competing at the NCAA Championships should he replicate or improve upon the mark at the NCAA East Preliminary Round. He also tossed a season's best 18.45m (60-6.5) in the shot put.
Michigan's most dramatic finish of the day came in the meet-finale 4x400 relay, as the Wolverines were just edged out of winning its section by .08, clocking a season's best 3:10.80.
Select Wolverines will get in one final tune-up this coming Thursday and/or Friday (May 3-4) at the Toledo Invitational ahead of the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind., on May 11-13.
U-M CAREER-BEST PERFORMANCES AT ARKANSAS
Grant Cartwright -- 67-12m (220-2) / Hammer Throw
Joe Ellis -- 72.16m (236-9) / Hammer Throw
Andrew Liskowitz -- 20.28m (66-6.5) / Shot Put
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 (Friday)
8. Khoury Crenshaw / 10.42w (+3.4m/s)
200 Meters (Friday)
25. Josiah Carpenter / 22.08 (+0.5m/s)
400 Meters (Friday)
24. Desmond Melson / 48.16
29. Alex Schwedt / 48.89
800 Meters (Friday)
9. Matt Plowman / 1:51.89
15. Tanner Schwannecke / 1:53.65
1,500 Meters (Friday)
6. Connor Mora / 3:46.71
12. Anthony Berry / 3:48.41
18. Chase Barnett / 3:52.62
17. Ryan Wilkie / 3:51.50
26. Jordy Hewitt / 3:58.87
110-Meter Hurdles (Friday)
11. Roland Amarteifio / 14.24w (+2.4m/s)
12. Sierra Hendrix-Williams / 14.28w (+2.4m/s)
16. Noah Caudy / 14.62w (+2.4m/s)
400-Meter Hurdles (Friday)
5. Taylor McLaughlin / 50.76
13. Roland Amarteifio / 52.55
15. Noah Caudy / 52.89
26. Sean Marshall / 55.11
3,000-Meter Steeplechase (Friday)
10. Kevin Hall / 9:26.63
4x400 Relay
8. Melson, Hartman, Schwedt, McLaughlin / 3:10.80
4x800 Relay
5. Schwannecke, Wallace, Hewitt, Wilkie / 7:37.97
4x1,500 Relay (Friday)
8. Benoit, Beller, McPeek, Wallace / 15:54.52
Distance Medley Relay
7. Berry, Marshall, Plowman, Mora / 9:49.85
High Jump (Friday)
1. Brandon Piwinski / 2.11m (6-11)
8. Max Wagner / 1.98m (6-6)
--. Alex Klemm / No Height
Pole Vault / Unseeded
6. Kevin Haughn / 4.95m (16-2.75)
8. Nick Burkhalter / 4.65m (15-3)
Shot Put
1. Andrew Liskowitz / 20.28m (66-6.5)
8. Grant Cartwright / 18.45m (60-6.5)
Discus Throw (Friday)
16. Manning Plater / 47.76m (156-8)
18. Andrew Liskowitz / 46.66m (153-1)
--. Grant Cartwright / No Mark
Hammer Throw
1. Joe Ellis / 72.16m (236-9)
5. Grant Cartwright / 67.12m (220-2)
20. Manning Plater / 58.48m (191-10)
Players Mentioned
