Michigan
NCAA Indoor Championships
Dodd Again Goes Sub-Four to Close out NCAA Indoor Championships
3/13/2021 4:57:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Fayetteville, Ark. (Randal Tyson Track Center)
Event: NCAA Indoor Championships (Day 3 of 3)
U-M Result: T-18th of 63 teams (10 points)
Next U-M Event: Monday, March 15 -- at NCAA Cross Country Championships (Stllwater, Okla.), 12:40 p.m. CDT
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Newcomer Tom Dodd put an All-American exclamation point on his debut season for the University of Michigan men's track and field team as the Wolverines closed out the final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships and the winter track season on Saturday (March 13) at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Dodd broke the four-minute barrier in the mile for the second straight day to finish seventh for first team All-America honors and two points toward Michigan's team score, and Tom Brady put the bow on the winter campaign with a career-best run in the 3,000-meter final for second team All-America status.
Dodd's 3:58.65 performance pushed the Wolverines' team score into double-digits with 10 points for a share of 18th place, marking the third top-20 finish since 2016 under head coaches Jerry Clayton and James Henry. It is the highest finish since a 13th-place tie in 2016.
Just as he did in his blistering 3:57.00 performance in Friday's preliminaries, Dodd went to the back of the pack early to set up the same type of late-race tactics that delivered him into the final.
Saturday's final went out marginally slower through 800 meters than did Friday's heats -- 2:02.61 to 2:00.12 for Dodd -- to set up a hard half-mile home. He moved up from 10th to ninth with two laps to go, right as eventual champion Cole Hocker of Oregon began to ratchet down the pace and stretch out the field.
As the bell rang for one lap to go, Dodd had pushed into first team All-America and scoring territory in eighth place, and was still on the move. On the strength of a 27.85-second circuit around the banked 200-meter oval, he ran down one more competitor to grab seventh as one of eight men in the field faster than four minutes. Not since Justin Switzer was seventh in 2009 has a Wolverine finished this high in the mile standings.
In combination with his 3:57.00 from Friday's heats, he distinguished himself as the first Michigan man ever to run sub-four miles on back-to-back days during the indoor season and the first to run multiple sub-four miles at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Add in the 3:58.47 that qualified him for these NCAA Championships, and he is the first man in school history to thrice crack into three-minute territory in the same season. He now trails only Olympians Nate Brannen and Kevin Sullivan on the list of career sub-four collegiate indoor miles, both with four.
An hour later, Brady finished 12th in the 3,000-meter final after entering as the 16th-and-final qualifier into the meet. He picked a great time for the best run of his career, clocking a personal-record 7:57.92.
Brady ran from the back for much of the race, but methodically worked his way through the field in the final kilometer. Climbing from 14th with 1,000 meters to go, he closed with a 29.25-second lap to secure his PR -- the fifth-fastest final lap in the field.
The outdoor season is up next for the Wolverines, though the 2021 schedule has not yet been finalized. In the meantime, Devin Meyrer will represent Michigan at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday (March 15) at 12:40 p.m. CDT in Stillwater, Okla.
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to final; q = at-large qualifier to final
Mile
Final
7. Tom Dodd / 3:58.65
Prelims
2. Tom Dodd / 3:57.00Q [New PR]
3,000 meter run
Final
12. Tom Brady / 7:57.92 [New PR]
5,000 meter run
Final
11. Devin Meyrer / 13:40.66 [U-M Record]
Shot Put
Final
7. John Meyer / 19.50m (63-11.75)
Heptathlon
Final
3. Ayden Owens / 5,995 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
60 meter hurdles / 7.87 (1015 pts) / Place: 1
Pole Vault / 4.56m (14-11.5) (778 pts) [New PR] / Place: 11
1000 meter run / 2:40.07 (874 pts) [New PR] / Place: 2
Players Mentioned
