Michigan
NCAA Indoor Championships
U-M Heptathlete Owens Off to Quick Start at NCAA Indoor Championships
3/11/2021 4:55:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Fayetteville, Ark. (Randal Tyson Track Center)
Event: NCAA Indoor Championships (Day 1 of 3)
U-M Result: No Team Score
Next U-M Event: Friday, March 12 -- at NCAA Indoor Championships - Day 2 (Fayetteville, Ark.), 10 a.m. CST
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Ayden Owens got the University of Michigan men's track and field team off to a strong start at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships on Thursday (March 11) as he turned in an impressive first-day series of results in the two-day heptathlon.
Powered by a series of career bests, season bests and clutch performances in high-pressure situations, Owens ranks fifth in the overall standings through the first four of seven events with a score of 3,329 points.
The redshirt sophomore transfer is looking to improve on his sixth-place finish from the 2019 NCAA meet as a freshman for Southern California.
None of the 16 heptathletes in the field got off to a quicker start, literally, than Owens as he clocked a season's best 6.82 seconds to win the opening 60-meter competition for 947 points.
He kept the momentum going into the long jump, where he twice exceeded his indoor career-best distance in the event. After opening with a 7.27m (23 feet, 10.25 inches) that would have netted him 878 points, he added another 13 points with a superior 7.36m (24-1.75) leap on his second attempt.
In the shot put, he would have needed a clutch third-round 14.07m (46-2) heave for 733 points to keep pace near the top of the standings. He threw no farther than 12.93m (42-5.25) in the first two rounds, but his final throw garnered him an additional 70 points that were the difference between fourth-place after the event and seventh.
Owens again showed nerves of steel in the day's high jump finale. Facing a third-and-final attempt at a 1.91m (6-3.25) bar that would tie his career best, he made it over and proceeded to get another personal-record height at 1.94m (6-4.25) on his second try. Clearing those two bars gained him an additional 53 points.
Unofficial projections -- which take into account Thursday's actual results and season-best marks in Friday's (March 12) 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter competitions for all 16 entrants -- show Owens narrowly in fourth place in what is shaping up to be a significant battle. Owens and the next five student-athletes in line behind him are all projected within 75 points of one another.
The NCAA Indoor Championships heptathlon will continue Friday, beginning at 10 a.m. CST with the 60-meter hurdles, followed by the pole vault at 11 a.m. CST and the 1,000 meters finale at 1:45 p.m. CST.
Owens' Wolverine teammates will join the fray on Friday, as well. John Meyer will contest the shot put at 11 a.m. CST, Tom Dodd will run in the semifinals of the mile at 2 p.m. CST, and Devin Meyrer is in the 5,000-meter final at 3:05 p.m. CST.
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to final; q = at-large qualifier to final
Heptathlon
Day 1 of 2
5. Ayden Owens - 3,329 points
60 meter dash / 6.82 (947 pts) / Place: 1
Long Jump / 7.36m (24-1.75) (900 pts) [New PR] / Place: 6
Shot Put / 14.07m (46-2) (733 pts) / Place: 7
High Jump / 1.94m (6-4.5) (749 pts) [New PR] / Place: 9
Players Mentioned
