Wolverines Announce 2021 Indoor Track and Field Schedule
1/11/2021 5:04:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
• 2021 U-M Track and Field Schedules: Men | Women
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan track and field head coaches James Henry and Jerry Clayton announced Monday (Jan. 11) the schedule for the 2021 indoor season, which will feature as many as four competitions at the world-class U-M Indoor Track Building, as well as additional safety precautions that will be implemented to help protect the health and well-being of participants.
The Big Ten Conference postponed the start of the season from fall 2020 to early 2021 due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Wolverines will host a pair of five-team invitationals featuring Big Ten institutions on Jan. 16 and Feb. 6, as well as a dedicated heptathlon/pentathlon competition on Jan. 29-30 and a tune-up meet on Feb. 19-20 ahead of the following weekend's Big Ten Indoor Championships.
"After what has been a long and stressful 2020, we are looking forward to beginning 2021 with the sense of hope and optimism that comes with the start of any new indoor season and then some," said Henry. "At the same time, our student-athletes and staff are doing everything we can to have this season safely and responsibly."
Rivals Michigan State and Ohio State, as well as Indiana and Purdue, are expected to square off with the Wolverines on Jan. 16, with the Feb. 6 lineup expected to include Michigan State, Penn State and Maryland.
This year's conference meet will be held Feb. 25-27 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, with the NCAA Indoor Championships slated for March 12-13 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Additionally, the Wolverines will travel to Indiana (Jan. 23), SPIRE (Feb. 12-13) and Iowa (Feb. 12-13) during the regular season.
In alignment with Michigan Athletics' chief priority being the safety and health of all participants during the ongoing novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, meet management will be taking numerous safety precautions throughout the season to mitigate the spread of the disease.
"We've been working with the other Big Ten schools for many weeks on developing plans across the conference that allow us to hold these meets safely," said Clayton. "Our student-athletes have worked hard and followed the health guidance diligently over the past several months to put us in a position to have this winter season. We are putting the same care into creating competition environments that mitigate risk so that we can make the most of this opportunity."
Spectators will not be permitted to attend in-person for this 2021 indoor season, in order to allow for ample space in the bleachers for teams to adequately social distance in separate team camps.
Fans will still be able to follow along with the home meet action remotely. MGoBlue.com will host live streams of the action on the track and in each of the field events, and the official social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook will provide live updates throughout each competition.
Additionally, the larger five-team invitationals on Jan. 16 and Feb. 6 will be split into multiple sessions in order to drastically reduce the number of people inside the facility -- and the risk of transmission -- at any given point in time. The sessions will be split up by gender, with men and women competing in separate time windows.
