Victorious Hill Leads Michigan Men on Day One at Vandy

Friday, March 22

Nashville, Tenn.

4:00 PM CT

Michigan

Black and Gold Invitational

Ben Hill

Victorious Hill Leads Michigan Men on Day One at Vandy

3/22/2019 11:59:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

By: Kyle Terwillegar

Site: Nashville, Tenn. (Vanderbilt Track)
Event: Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invitational (Day 1 of 2)
U-M Result: No team scoring
Next U-M Event: Saturday, March 23 -- at Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invitational – Day 2 (Nashville, Tenn.), noon CDT

• Complete Results (PDF)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The University of Michigan men's track and field team debuted its distance runners, jumpers and throwers for the first time this outdoor season to great success on Friday (March 22) for day one of the Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invitational.

Led by winner Ben Hill, the Michigan distance corps accounted for six of the top 10 places in the 1,500-meter event, accounting for a majority of the Wolverines' seven top-10 finishes on the day.

Hill emerged victorious in a photo finish, beating multiple-time All-American Kigen Chemadi of Middle Tennessee State to the line by .60 in 3:51.09.

The rest of his Michigan crew was not much farther behind, with Cole Johnson making his Michigan outdoor debut in fourth with a time of 3:52.02 and Chase Barnett sixth in 3:52.23. Just behind them in the same section of the event were eighth-place Will Landowne -- also making his Michigan outdoor debut -- in 3:52.89 and ninth-place Isaac Harding in 3:53.55.

From a separate race, Matt Plowman took the win in his section in 3:53.78 to claim 10th overall. Only a single second separated the top five finishers and less than three seconds came between first and 10th places.

Triple jumper Daniel Butael registered the other Michigan top-10 finish of the day, taking third at 14.49m (47 feet, 6.5 inches) (+1.0m/s).

Alex Schwedt set the pace for the sprinters at 200 meters, clocking a wind-aided 22.17 (+2.7m/s) for 22nd place -- well exceeding his pre-meet No. 39 seed -- that surpassed his official, wind-legal career-best of 22.32 (+0.2m/s) from 2017. Performances should only be considered career bests when wind readings are 2.0m/s or less.

Action for the final session of competition resumes at Vanderbilt on Saturday at noon CDT in the field events. Track events for the Michigan men begin shortly thereafter at 12:30 p.m. CDT and are expected to conclude just after 5 p.m CDT.

Collegiate Career-Best Performances

Career debuts in events not included; indoor career bests are considered separate, even for the same event

Alex Schwedt -- 22.17w (+2.7m/s) / 200m (O)
Luke Wallace -- 3:56.18 / 1500m (O)

Full Michigan Results by Event

Q = Automatic qualifier into final; q = non-automatic qualifier into final; w = wind-aided performance (Wind readings greater than +2.0m/s are considered "wind-aided" and are not eligible for record purposes. Wind readings up to and including +4.0m/s are allowable for NCAA East Preliminaries qualifying purposes.)

100 Meters
To be contested Saturday

200 Meters
22. Alex Schwedt / 22.17w (+2.7m/s)
46. Cassidy Henshaw / 23.14w (+3.2m/s)
50. Blake Washington / 23.32 (+1.2m/s)

400 Meters
To be contested Saturday

800 Meters
To be contested Saturday

1,500 Meters
1. Ben Hill / 3:51.09
4. Cole Johnson / 3:52.02
6. Chase Barnett / 3:52.23
8. Will Landowne / 3:52.89
9. Isaac Harding / 3:53.55
10. Matt Plowman / 3:53.78
13. Christian Hubaker / 3:55.18
16. Luke Wallace / 3:56.18
19. Derrick Simmons / 3:58.21
21. Jacob Lee / 3:58.83
25. Jared Hill / 4:00.51
27. Dominic Dimambro / 4:00.88
28. Joost Plaetinck / 4:02.20