Michigan
NCAA East Preliminaries
Wolverines Begin NCAA Postseason at East Preliminaries
5/22/2018 6:10:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
» UPDATE: As of Wednesday afternoon, a majority of the events scheduled on Thursday through Saturday have been moved forward several hours in an attempt to avoid inclement weather expected to move through the weekend.
» Michigan will have a combined 13 entries from 12 individuals at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, which serve as the qualifying gateway to the NCAA Championships on June 6-9.
» Grant Cartwright, Joe Ellis, Ben Flanagan, Andrew Liskowitz and Taylor McLaughlin are looking to book return trips to the NCAA Championships.
THIS WEEK
Thu-Sat., May 24-26 -- NCAA East Preliminary Rounds (Tampa, Fla.), 11:30 a.m. (Thu.) | 7 p.m. (Fri.) | 4:15 p.m. (Sat.)
Meet Homepage | Live Results | Watch Live on Flotrack Pro
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Berths to the national championships are on the line for 12 Wolverines this weekend as the University of Michigan men's track and field team kicks off the NCAA postseason in Tampa, Florida, with the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, Thursday through Saturday (May 24-26).
The road to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, next month runs directly through Tampa for the Michigan men as they look to be among those competing at South Florida's USF Track and Field Stadium who advance from their respective events onto nationals.
Action for the Michigan men kicks off at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, with Friday's schedule for the Wolverines starting as early as 7 p.m or as late at 8:20 p.m. Saturday's final day of competition begins at 4:15 p.m. for Michigan. A full schedule of events for Wolverine athletes can be found below.
Leading the way for the Wolverines are a corps of former NCAA Championships competitors looking to book their return trips to historic Hayward Field by way of qualifying performances this weekend.
Thrower Joe Ellis and hurdler Taylor McLaughlin are in the running for third consecutive berths to NCAAs, while throwers Grant Cartwright and Andrew Liskowitz are going for back-to-back appearances. Distance runner Ben Flanagan is seeking a return to Eugene for the first time since 2016.
Big Ten 5,000-meter champion Aaron Baumgarten is among the seven Wolverines going for their first NCAA Championships berths, along with hurdler Roland Amarteifio, distance runners Micah Beller and Connor Mora, high jumper Brandon Piwinski, thrower Manning Plater and triple jumper Kevin Stephens Jr.
Unlike the Wolverines' last outing at the Big Ten Championships, no team score will be kept at this weekend's East Prelims. Rather, this meet serves as a qualifying-round extension of the NCAA Championships on June 6-9.
From each individual event, only the top 12 finishers -- from among the event's 48 qualifiers -- will book their tickets to Eugene. For the field events and the 10,000 meters on the track, this simply means those who finish in places one through 12. Throwers and horizontal jumpers will get only three attempts (no additional three-round finals will be conducted) to post their best marks, while action in the vertical jumps continues only to the point of whittling down the field to 12 qualifiers.
For the remainder of the track events, competitors can advance by earning automatic berths by virtue of finishing between top-three or top-five in their quarterfinal or semifinal heats (depending on event) or among the two or three fastest non-automatic qualifiers.
Of relevance to the Michigan men:
• 5,000 meters -- Automatic: Top-five in one of the two semifinal heats / Non-automatic: The two fastest among those who did not earn automatic berths.
• 400-meter hurdles -- Automatic: Top-three in one of the three quarterfinal heats / Non-automatic: The three fastest among those who did not earn automatic berths.
• 3,000-meter steeplechase -- Automatic: Top-three in one of the three quarterfinal heats / Non-automatic: The three fastest among those who did not earn automatic berths.
The meet can be watched live online via FloTrack, and live results are available from Flash Results. Stay tuned to the program's official social media platforms for the most up-to-date results throughout the weekend.
WHEN TO FOLLOW THE WOLVERINES
As of Wednesday afternoon, times have been updated due to inclement weather expected in the area throughout the weekend.
| Wolverines Competing This Weekend | |||
| THURSDAY, MAY 24 | |||
| Name | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Grant Cartwright | Hammer Throw | First Round | 8:45 AM |
| Joe Ellis | Hammer Throw | First Round | 8:45 AM |
| Manning Plater | Hammer Throw | First Round | 8:45 AM |
| Roland Amarteifio | 400 meter hurdles | First Round | 12:30 PM |
| Taylor McLaughlin | 400 meter hurdles | First Round | 12:30 PM |
| Benjamin Flanagan | 10,000 meter run | Semifinal | 9:00 PM |
| FRIDAY, MAY 25 | |||
| Name | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Roland Amarteifio * | 400 meter hurdles | Quarterfinal | 3:00 PM |
| Taylor McLaughlin * | 400 meter hurdles | Quarterfinal | 3:00 PM |
| Connor Mora | Steeplechase | Quarterfinal | 8:00 PM |
| SATURDAY, MAY 26 | |||
| Name | Event | Round | Time (ET) |
| Brandon Piwinski | High Jump | First Round | 2:00 PM |
| Kevin Stephens | Triple Jump | First Round | 3:30 PM |
| Grant Cartwright | Shot Put | First Round | 5:30 PM |
| Andrew Liskowitz | Shot Put | First Round | 5:30 PM |
| Aaron Baumgarten | 5000 meter run | Semifinal | 8:05 PM |
| Micah Beller | 5000 meter run | Semifinal | 8:05 PM |
* = Pending advancement from the first round
MICHIGAN'S TOP CONTENDERS
Men's Throws
Fresh off another school-record performance at the Big Ten Championships, Joe Ellis is in position to qualify for his third consecutive NCAA Championships in the hammer throw -- with teammate Grant Cartwright poised to join him in the NCAA hammer for the first time.
Ellis is currently ranked fifth in the East with his school-record 72.72m (238 feet, 9 inches) from the Big Ten meet, while Cartwright is right on the bubble of making it to Eugene at No. 13 with his career-best 68.28m (224-0) from Big Tens.
The hammer throw in the East is exceptionally strong this year. While a mark of 66.66m was enough to make it to nationals a year ago, 11 men in the region have thrown farther than 70 meters and another has surpassed 69 meters.
The duo of Andrew Liskowitz and Cartwright will look to make it through to NCAAs in the shot put for the second year in a row. Both Liskowitz and Cartwright needed big throws on their last attempt to make it through a year ago as the eighth- and 10th-place finishers, but both are in position in 2018 to have a stronger showing.
School-record holder Liskowitz and Cartwright are coming off third-and fourth-place finishes at the Big Ten Championships, ranked No. 4 and No. 9 in the region, respectively. Liskowitz has exceeded the old school record in each of his past two outings, topped by a 20.28m (66-6.5) heave at Arkansas last month. Cartwright's career best came at Big Tens with a 19.30m (63-4).
Between the shot put and the hammer, Cartwright is one of only two men in the meet ranked top-15 in both events. Georgia's Denzel Comenentia is the top seed in both events.
Men's Hurdles
The Wolverines will have two entries in the 400-meter hurdles, with Taylor McLaughlin going for his third consecutive trip to the NCAA meet and Roland Amarteifio going to the Prelims for the first time in his young career.
McLaughlin is coming off a Big Ten title last weekend, having run sub-50 seconds twice in the same meet for the first time since taking fifth at the 2016 NCAA Championships. After running 49.93 in the prelims, McLaughlin clocked 49.62 -- his fastest time in collegiate competition -- to win the final. He enters as the No. 2 seed in the East as one of just two men who have cracked 50 seconds.
Amarteifio ran 51.73 in the Big Ten prelims to qualify for the final with a big new personal record that was enough to push him through to the Prelims for the first time in his career, ranked 27th. For perspective, the final non-automatic qualifier to the national meet last year crossed the line in 50.97, though the year before it was 51.97.
Men's Distance
Ben Flanagan has a return trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in his sights, having been to the meet most recently in 2016 when he earned second-team All-America honors. Though he is ranked just 22nd in the field, the 10,000 meters at the Prelims is often a tactical affair -- precisely the type of race that Flanagan won at the Big Ten meet two weekends ago. The 10,000-meter distance has been favorable for him all year long, having won the NCAA Great Lakes Regional and finished 20th at NCAAs during the cross country season.
In the 5,000 meters, Aaron Baumgarten is coming off his first career Big Ten title in upset fashion, and will next take aim at this first-ever trip to an NCAA track championship meet. He and teammate Micah Beller are ranked 21st and 34th, respectively, in the region, both seeded around the 14:00 clocking that has historically been fast enough to advance in years past. Baumgarten has come close to qualifying multiple times, finishing 14th a year ago and 13th the year before that.
In the steeplechase, Connor Mora is making his fourth-consecutive appearance at the East Prelims with the hope of breaking through for his first trip to outdoor nationals. Currently seeded 37th at 8:59.99, Mora will be looking for his best performance of the year to approach the mid-8:40s that will push him through to nationals. He has come as close as 15th in 2015.
Men's Jumps
After surpassing his old triple jump personal record three times in a fifth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, Kevin Stephens Jr., has momentum heading into the prelims in search of his first NCAA Championships berth. With his career-best 15.66m (51-4.5) leap from two weekends ago, Stephens is right on the threshold of what has made nationals in recent years. If achieved at the 2017 or 2015 East Prelims, that mark would have advanced Stephens to Eugene.
Piwinski, too, is right on the threshold of moving on in his first-ever NCAA Prelims competition. His career-best 2.14m (7-0.25) at the Big Ten meet is superior to the marks that have ultimately qualified to the NCAA Championships in the past three years, but it all comes down to achieving that mark on the day as the field is slowly whittled down from 48 to 12.
