Season Preview: 2019 Michigan Men's Indoor Track and Field

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships are coming to Ann Arbor in February, and the host University of Michigan men will welcome the conference's best this 2019 indoor season with a roster filled with All-Americans, conference champions, up-and-comers and promising newcomers.

Michigan's journey to the Big Ten Championships -- and beyond to the NCAA Indoor Championships -- begins in earnest Saturday (Jan. 12), as the squad hosts the Wolverine Invitational in its state-of-the-art U-M Indoor Track Building, now in its second year of operation. This weekend's competition is the first of three home events for Michigan, led by head coaches Jerry Clayton and James Henry, in the run-up to Big Tens.

Saturday will be a jumping off point for a team that features not only four All-Americans, a pair of conference champions and three individual school record-holders, but also a corps of up-and-coming underclassmen and newcomers that shows great potential.

The Team, The Team, The Team

» The Wolverines finished sixth at the 2018 Big Ten Indoor Championships, scoring 57 points to finish 13 behind fifth-place Wisconsin. Headlined by reigning weight throw champion Joe Ellis, Michigan returns four individuals -- Ellis, Taylor McLaughlin, Anthony Berry and Andrew Liskowitz -- who combined to score 25 of those points. Michigan also returns the full 4x400 and distance medley relay teams that combined to score an additional five points.

» Led by first team All-American Ellis in the weight throw, Michigan finished in a tie for 45th at the NCAA Indoor Championships with four points. Ellis finished fifth in the weight throw, while shot putter Liskowitz and now-volunteer coach Grant Cartwright in the weight throw were second team All-Americans.

Wolverines to Watch

Season Preview - Michigan Men's Track & Field

» Returning All-Americans: Ellis (weight throw, outdoor hammer throw); Liskowitz (indoor and outdoor shot put); McLaughlin (outdoor 400-meter hurdles); and Jack Aho (cross country)

» Returning Big Ten Indoor Championships scorers: Berry (mile); Ellis (weight throw champion), Liskowitz (shot put), McLaughlin (400 meters), and all four members of both the 4x400 and distance medley relays

» Current school record-holders: Chase Barnett (distance medley relay); Ellis (weight throw, outdoor hammer throw), Liskowitz (outdoor shot put); McLaughlin (400 meters, distance medley relay)

The Path to the Postseason

» The full team begins the season with a pair of home meets in the Wolverine Invitational (Jan. 12) and the Simmons-Harvey Big Ten Invitational (Jan.19). The former will be an opportunity for Michigan to set benchmark performances to begin its season, while the latter will be a pseudo preview of the Big Ten Championships against the likes of Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska Ohio State and Penn State.

» Some of the squad's top distance runners will head to Boston University for the John Thomas Terrier Classic (Jan. 26) to chase potential NCAA Championships qualifying times and career-best performances, while others from the team will head to Saginaw Valley State that same weekend for additional experience.

» The full team reassembles for the third-and-final regular-season home meet of the year as Michigan will welcome some of the nation's best programs for the Power Five Invitational (Feb. 1-2). Set to challenge the Wolverines are Big Ten foes Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as Georgia Tech, Louisville and Pitt from the ACC and Kansas from the Big 12.

» Michigan will split up one more time during the regular season as select competitors will head to either Vanderbilt or Iowa State (Feb. 8-9) for one last chance at a national-caliber tune-up ahead of the Big Ten Championships. The crew bound for Iowa State will likely be comprised mostly of distance runners, while the rest of the team will set off for Vanderbilt.

» Any final tune-ups that are needed in the week leading up to Big Tens will take place at the Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational (Feb. 16), including a potential run by the distance medley relay team. The meet is well-known as a prominent meet for DMR teams trying to advance to nationals.

» Michigan will host the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 22-23. This marks the first championship meet held in the new U-M Indoor Track Building.

» Those student-athletes who finish the season ranked among the top-16 in their individual events will qualify to compete at the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 8-9. Depending on which athletes around the country decide to compete in which events and decline to compete in others, the qualifying number could stretch down to top 20.