Michigan
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Heptathletes Post Top-Five Finishes on Second Day of Big Ten Indoors
2/26/2021 4:08:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Geneva, Ohio (SPIRE Institute)
Event: Big Ten Indoor Championships (Day 2 of 3)
U-M Team Standing: 9th place of 12 teams (16 points) after Day 2
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 27 -- at Big Ten Indoor Championships - Day 3 (Geneva, Ohio), 11 a.m.
• Complete Results (PDF)
GENEVA, Ohio -- With a pair of top-five finishes, heptathletes Heath Baldwin and Mason Mahacek took center stage for the University of Michigan men's track and field team on the second of three days at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Friday (Feb. 26) at the SPIRE Institute.
Baldwin was fourth and Mahacek claimed fifth in the grueling seven-event heptathlon, both posting career-best scores en route to adding nine points to the Michigan team total. Michigan also added a pair of mile finalists from Friday's preliminaries action to its lineup for Saturday's Big Ten Championships finale.
Through six of 18 total events, Michigan has scored 16 points and ranks ninth. With 12 events still to be scored, only one team -- leader Iowa with 51 points -- is more than 12 points ahead of the Wolverines.
The sophomore duo of Baldwin and Mahacek proved they are growing into conference and, increasingly, national contenders in the heptathlon with their performances on Thursday and Friday.
Baldwin scored a lifetime-best 5,568 points to move him into the No. 3 spot in school history and keep him among the top 20 nationally, while Mahacek improved his career best to 5,399 points. The score for Baldwin is a 120-point gain on his previous best from earlier this month, while Mahacek added 59 points.
Baldwin opened the day with an 8.24-second clocking that missed his season's best by only .01, while Mahacek kicked things off in 8.92 for a new career best.
In the pole vault, Mahacek shone with just a single miss through his career-best clearance of 4.85m (15-11), while Baldwin came up just short of his personal best at 4.35m (14-3.25).
Mahacek closed out the competition by coming within 0.55 of a second of his 1,000-meter personal best in 2:42.81, and Baldwin slashed more than 5.5 seconds from his best at this distance.
Several Wolverines also moved on to Saturday's finals from preliminary rounds on Friday.
After both scoring for the Wolverines on the Championships' opening night Thursday, Nick Foster and Tom Dodd doubled back on Friday to advance to Saturday's final in the mile. Foster was an automatic qualifier into the final with a college-career-best 4:03.61 to win his opening heat.
Dodd, who was third in that same heat in 4:04.52, had to wait to officially clinch his berth to the final. His time ultimately held up over the course of the next two heats to earn him one of the four at-large qualifying berths into the final.
At the 800-meter distance, both Cole Johnson and Thomas Shilgalis ran career-best times to finish among the 10 fastest men in the preliminaries, but neither advanced to the final. Johnson ran 1:50.10 -- moving him to No. 5 in school history -- but his fifth-place finish in the heat eliminated him from qualification. Shilgalis was fifth in his heat and 10th overall in 1:51.45.
Halving the distance once more, Austin Lin just missed the final at 400 meters in his Big Ten Championships debut, as the graduate transfer was 10th overall in 48.15.
The final session of the Big Ten Indoor Championships will begin Saturday at 11 a.m
Full cumulative results from the first two days of competition can be found below.
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to final; q = at-large qualifier to final
400-meter dash
Prelims
10. Austin Lin / 48.15
800-meter run
Prelims
5. Cole Johnson / 1:50.10 [New PR]
10. Thomas Shilgalis / 1:51.45 [New PR]
14. Derrick Simmons / 1:52.34
Mile
Prelims
4. Nick Foster / 4:03.61Q [New PR]
7. Tom Dodd / 4:04.52q
23. Anthony Berry / 4:25.94
3000-meter run (Friday)
Final
7. Nick Foster / 8:06.55
10. Devin Meyrer / 8:08.17
11. Christian Hubaker / 8:08.98
13. Tom Brady / 8:12.19
23. Austin Remick / 8:22.70
60-meter hurdles (Friday)
Prelims
3. Ayden Owens / 7.88Q
4. Josh Zeller / 7.85q [New PR]
13. Job Mayhue / 8.22
Weight Throw (Friday)
Final
18. Eli Winter / 17.51m (57-5.25)
Heptathlon
Final
4. Heath Baldwin / 5,568 points [New PR]
60 meters / 7.26 [New PR] / 792 pts
Long Jump / 6.71m (22-0.25) / 746
Shot Put / 13.80m (45-3.25) / 716
High Jump / 2.06m (6-9) / 859
60 meter hurdles / 8.24 / 922
Pole Vault / 4.35m (14-3.25) / 716
1,000 meters / 2:45.11 [New PR] / 817
5. Mason Mahacek / 5,399 points [New PR]
60 meters / 7.22 / 806 pts
Long Jump / 6.61m (21-8.25) / 723
Shot Put / 11.37m (37-3.75) / 568
High Jump / 2.03m (6-8) [New PR] / 831
60 meter hurdles / 8.92 [New PR] / 764
Pole Vault / 4.85m (15-11) [New PR] / 865
1,000 meters / 2:42.81 / 842
Players Mentioned
