Michigan
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
McLaughlin, Baumgarten Claim Big Ten Titles as Wolverines Finish Fourth
5/13/2018 7:27:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Stadium)
Event: Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships (Day 3 of 3)
U-M Team Result: Fourth Place of 12 Teams (84 points)
Next U-M Event: Thu-Sat., May 24-26 -- NCAA East Preliminary Rounds (Tampa, Fla.)
• Photo Gallery | Complete Results
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Powered by event champions Taylor McLaughlin and Aaron Baumgarten among nine scoring performances on Sunday (May 13), the University of Michigan men's track and field team finished fourth in the hotly contested final Big Ten Outdoor Championships team standings.
In a team race behind winner Ohio State that came down to the 4x400-meter relay finale, the Wolverines scored 84 points for fourth -- just four points shy of runner-up Indiana and four points clear of sixth-place Iowa -- after an eighth-place finish in a 4x400 that saw the fifth- through 10th-place teams separated by less than a second.
In a meet where every point, second and centimeter mattered, the Wolverines took advantage of nearly every opportunity presented them. McLaughlin reclaimed his title in the 400-meter hurdles and Baumgarten scored an upset win in the 5,000 meters to contribute 20 points to the score, but Michigan also got Sunday scoring efforts in the triple jump, high jump, 1,500 meters, 400-meter hurdles, 110-meter hurdles and both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
McLaughlin and Baumgarten joined Friday's 10,000-meter winner Ben Flanagan as individual champions on the weekend, giving Michigan three winners for the second time in the past three seasons. Both McLaughlin and Flanagan reclaimed their titles from the 2016 edition of the Championships.
Following their lead, Roland Amarteifio was fifth in the 400-meter hurdles and eighth in the 110-meter hurdles; Anthony Berry took fourth in the 1,500 meters; Kevin Stephens Jr. and Brandon Piwinski were fifth in the triple jump and high jump, respectively; the 4x100 relay was seventh and the 4x400 was eighth.
McLaughlin reclaimed his conference title from two seasons ago in dominant fashion, running a 49.62 that ranks second in his career to only the 49.45 that won him the IAAF World Junior Championships silver.
The junior was untouchable in the final, crossing the finish line with Nebraska's runner-up Andrew Neal more than a second in his rearview mirror.
Now with two sub-50-second clockings under his belt this weekend -- including his 49.93 from the prelims -- McLaughlin is now poised to make a run at first team All-America honors or more as the No. 3 hurdler in the country.
McLaughlin played pivotal roles on both relays, as well, running the second legs of the seventh-place 4x100 relay in 40.38 (Desmond Nicholas, McLaughlin, Josiah Carpenter, Khoury Crenshaw) and the eighth-place 4x400 relay team in 3:10.43 (Alex Schwedt, McLaughlin, Amarteifio, Desmond Melson).
He was joined on the 400 hurdles podium by teammate Amarteifio, who missed his career best by .01 as he ran 51.74 for fifth place. That hurdles performance came later in the afternoon after he took eighth in the 110-meter hurdles final in a career-best 14.11 (+2.0m/s). Teammate Sierra Hendrix-Williams tied his personal record in 14.21 to take ninth in that same final.
Two races after McLaughlin, it was Baumgarten's time to shine. The redshirt senior won his first Big Ten title in his final opportunity with a 14:21.28 effort under grueling near-90 degree temperatures.
Baumgarten made an early decision to go with breakaway leader Curtis Eckstein of Purdue, and once he overtook the lead at the 2,200-meter split he never gave it up to anyone other than his teammate Micah Beller for a lap and Minnesota's Hamza Ali for a lap.
Once he reclaimed the lead with 1,200 meters to go, he would never relinquish it. Running with a pack of four with 800 meters to go, Baumgarten threw in a 64-second penultimate lap to whittle it down to just him and Wisconsin's Joe Hardy.
Baumgarten once more ratcheted down the pace in a move that would ultimately seal his win. He covered the final 400 meters in 60.66 seconds to hold off a hard-charging runner-up Ben Veatch by two seconds.
The Wolverines got more distance points from Anthony Berry in the 1,500-meter final, taking fourth in a blanket finish in 3:51.97. After leading at the bell with a lap to go, Berry held on to take fourth among a group from third through eighth all separated by less than a second.
This marked the second consecutive Big Ten meet in which he scored, following a sixth-place indoor mile finish.
The points did not stop at the track's edge, however, as Stephens and Piwinski both logged fifth-place finishes in the field.
Stephens four times exceeded his personal best entering the weekend, topping out with a mark of 15.66m (51 feet, 4.5 inches) in the third round. He opened the day with a mark of 15.38m (50-5.5) and improved to 15.52m (50-11) on his second attempt. He also closed with a big 15.57m (51-1).
Teammate Daniel Butael jumped 14.99m (49-2.25) on his third-and-final prelims jump to advance to the final as the last man in, but could not improve from ninth in the final.
Career best was the theme of the day in the jumps as Piwinski cleared seven feet for the first time in his collegiate career with a mark of 2.14m (7-0.25), becoming the first Wolverine to do so since 2014.
In order to get to seven feet, he first had to navigate a third-attempt clearance at 2.08m (6-9.75). After that high-pressure jump, he got over 2.11m (6-11) on his first try and took his best height of the day on a second attempt.
Entries will be announced later this week for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Tampa, Florida, on May 24-26. The meet will serve as the gateway to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon in early June.
COLLEGIATE CAREER-BEST PERFORMANCES AT BIG TENS (SUNDAY)
Roland Amarteifio -- 14.11 (+2.0m/s) / 110m Hurdles (O)
Sierra Hendrix-Williams -- 14.21 (+2.0m/s) / 110m Hurdles (O)
Jr., Kevin Stephens Jr. -- 15.66m (51-4.5) / Triple Jump (O)
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 (Prelims) (Saturday)
12. Khoury Crenshaw / 10.53 (+1.4m/s)
20. Desmond Nicholas / 10.76 (+0.4m/s)
200 Meters (Prelims) [Friday]
22. Josiah Carpenter / 22.41 (-0.9m/s)
400 Meters (Prelims) (Saturday)
22. Desmond Melson / 47.93
24. Alex Schwedt / 48.11
800 Meters (Prelims) (Saturday)
22. Matt Plowman / 1:53.50
1,500 Meters (Final)
4. Anthony Berry / 3:51.97
4. Anthony Berry / 3:47.11q (Friday Prelims)
11. Chase Barnett / 3:48.38 (Friday Prelims)
5,000 Meters (Final)
1. Aaron Baumgarten / 14:21.28
14. Micah Beller / 14:50.74
15. Connor Mora / 14:55.16
19. Jack Aho / 15:07.26
10,000 Meters (Final) [Friday]
1. Benjamin Flanagan / 30:23.86
5. Billy Bund / 30:36.96
10. Jacob Lee / 30:55.98
17. Isaac Harding / 31:25.97
110-Meter Hurdles (Final)
8. Roland Amarteifio / 14.11 (+2.0m/s)
9. Sierra Hendrix-Williams / 14.21 (+2.0m/s)
8. Roland Amarteifio / 14.17q (+0.8m/s) (Saturday Prelims)
9. Sierra Hendrix-Williams / 14.21q (+0.4m/s) (Saturday Prelims)
400-Meter Hurdles (Final)
1. Taylor McLaughlin / 49.62
5. Roland Amarteifio / 51.74
2. Taylor McLaughlin / 49.93Q (Friday Prelims)
6. Roland Amarteifio / 51.73q (Friday Prelims)
17. Noah Caudy / 54.08 (Friday Prelims)
19. Sean Marshall / 56.33 (Friday Prelims)
3,000-Meter Steeplechase (Final) (Saturday)
5. Connor Mora / 9:00.04
7. Austin Benoit / 9:05.56
--. Andrew Lorant / DNF
4x100 Relay (Final)
7. Nicholas, Carpenter, Crenshaw, McLaughlin / 40.38
4x400 Relay (Final)
8. McLaughlin, Melson, Amarteifio, Schwedt / 3:10.43
High Jump (Final)
5. Brandon Piwinski / 2.14m (7-0.25)
18. Alex Klemm / 2.03m (6-8)
Pole Vault (Final)
15. Kevin Haughn / 4.85m (15-11)
--. Nick Burkhalter / NH
Triple Jump (Final)
5. Kevin Stephens / 15.66m (51-4.5)
9. Daniel Butael / 14.99m (49-2.25)
Shot Put (Final) (Saturday)
3. Andrew Liskowitz / 19.46m (63-10.25)
4. Grant Cartwright / 19.30m (63-4)
Discus (Final)
15. Andrew Liskowitz / 51.69m (169-7)
17. Manning Plater / 50.15m (164-6)
18. Grant Cartwright / 49.88m (163-8)
Hammer Throw (Final) [Friday]
2. Joe Ellis / 72.72m (238-7)
4. Grant Cartwright / 68.28m (224-0)
14. Manning Plater / 61.21m (200-10)
Players Mentioned
