Michigan
NCAA Indoor Championships
Wolverine Quintet Prepared for Upcoming NCAA Indoor Championships
3/9/2021 11:08:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
Thu-Sat., March 11-13 -- at NCAA Indoor Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Meet Information
Thursday, March 11 -- at at NCAA Indoor Championships, 11 a.m. CST
TV: ESPN3 | Live Results | Live Video
Friday, March 12 -- at NCAA Indoor Championships, 10 a.m CST
TV: ESPN3 | Live Results | Live Video
Saturday, March 13 -- at NCAA Indoor Championships, 2 p.m CST
TV: ESPN3 | Live Results | Live Video
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In what will be the first NCAA Indoor Championships since 2019 after the 2020 edition was canceled on the eve of the meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Michigan men's track and field team will have five entries battling for national glory over the course of Thursday through Saturday (March 11-13) in Fayetteville, Ark.
All-American transfer Ayden Owens (heptathlon) and U-M cross country All-American Devin Meyrer (5,000 meters) lead a group that spans the gamut from NCAA veterans to nationals neophytes, including newcomer Tom Dodd (mile), and underclassmen John Meyer (shot put) and Tom Brady (3,000 meters).
The Wolverines will be in action on all three days of the championships, which will be held inside the confines of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center.
Owens will be running, jumping and throwing over the course of both Thursday and Friday in his seven-event heptathlon competition, which is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST on the first day and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second.
Joining him on Friday are Meyer in the shot put at 11 a.m. CST, Dodd in the mile preliminaries at 2 p.m. CST and Meyrer in the final of the 5,000 meters at 3:05 p.m. CST.
Should Dodd advance in the mile event, he would compete in the final on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST. Rounding out the weekend will be Brady in the 3,000-meter final at 3 p.m. CST.
Michigan enters at No. 32 in the pre-championships edition of the National Track and Field Rating Index (TFRI) from the U.S Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). With only one of the U-M qualifiers -- Owens -- seeded in the top eight, opportunities to move up and score could push the Wolverines up in the team standings quickly.
The NCAA Indoor Championships will be streamed live online via ESPN3. Live results and splits will be available through Flash Results.
Updates will also be provided by way of the team's official social media accounts.
How the NCAA Indoor Championships Work
Each of the teams represented at the NCAA Indoor Championships will field student-athletes in at least one of the 17 events on the meet program. Student-athletes will compete against each other in each of those events, with points awarded to their respective teams based on how high they finish in the top-eight of their event.
Event winners will get 10 points for their teams, with the runners-up receiving eight points. Third place earns six points, fourth place gets five points, fifth place receives four points, three points are awarded for sixth place, seventh place nets two points, and eighth place earns one point.
The team that accumulates the most points from its student-athletes will be crowned the team champion.
Additionally, All-America honors are up for grabs from the USTFCCCA. Those who finish first through eighth in their respective events will earn first-team recognition, with second-team distinctions going to those who place ninth through 16th. Individuals who fail to record a mark or a time -- by way of disqualification, not starting or not finishing -- earn Honorable Mention status.
Event Previews
Heptathlon (Thursday and Friday) -- Owens returns to the NCAA Indoor Championships looking to improve on his sixth-place finish from the 2019 meet during his days at Southern California. With his lone heptathlon of the 2021 season, he enters seeded fourth with his score of 5,751, though he has a career-best 5,809 to his name. The field is deep with eight men who have scored more than 5,700 points, but only one has scored more than 6,000 points, making the field also wide-open.
In his first season at Michigan -- one that has been stopped and restarted due to department-wide COVID-19 precautions -- he has significantly boosted his shot put personal best, logged a new indoor long jump best and approached his career bests in each of the other five disciplines.
Shot Put (Friday, 11 a.m. CST) -- Meyer is coming off the best shot put series of his career in a silver-medal winning performance at the Big Ten Indoor Championships where he tossed 19.90m (65 feet, 3.5 inches) for a new career best among four throws farther than 19 meters. With that performance, he enters the meet seeded No. 11, right on the cusp of making the nine-man final after three rounds of trials throwing passes. He is among the youngest in the field, as one of just three sophomores that qualified for the championships.
Mile (Prelims: Friday, 2 p.m. CST / Final: Saturday, 2 p.m. CST) -- Dodd has made an instant impact for the Wolverines, scoring in two different events at the Big Ten Indoor Championships and moving to No. 6 on the all-time U-M list in the mile with a quick 3:58.47. The latter achievement earned him a spot as the No. 12 seed here at nationals, where he will look to become Michigan's first top-eight scorer in the event since 2009. The event is historically fast in 2021 with the indoor collegiate record-holders for both the mile and 1,500-meter distances in the field, but anything can happen in championship distance races in which tactics often take center stage.
5,000 Meters (Friday, 3:05 p.m. CST) -- In what will be the first of two NCAA Championship races for Meyrer on the weekend -- he will also represent Michigan at the cross country championships on Monday (March 15) -- Meyrer enters at No. 16 in the field. Meyrer is looking strong in the event, having broken 14 minutes twice during the month of February, first at 13:52.83 then with a career-best 13:46.68 for fourth at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. He is one of just two runners in the field who have broken that barrier twice this season. He will be looking for Michigan's first top-eight finish in the event since 2000.
3,000 Meters (Saturday, 3 p.m. CST) -- Brady has been rewarded for his breakthrough 2021 campaign with a spot at the national meet that was only granted this past weekend after other athletes scratched from the meet. Armed with significant career bests not only at 3,000 meters with his 7:58.06 that put him on the map in January, but also a 13:48.66 that placed him fifth at Big Tens, Brady is looking to make the most of his fortune. A potentially significant factor in his favor: at least six and as many as 11 of the other men in the field could have at least one earlier race in their legs from the weekend, while Brady will be fresh and rested.
Players Mentioned
