Michigan
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Michigan Men to Challenge for Big Ten Outdoor Team Title
5/12/2021 5:47:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sun., May 14-16 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships (Champaign, Ill.)
Championships Central
Friday, May 14 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 11:30 a.m. CDT
TV: Big Ten Network+ | Live Results | Live Video: Track / Field
Saturday, May 15 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 10:30 a.m. CDT
TV: Big Ten Network+ | Live Results | Live Video: Track / Field
Sunday, May 16 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 12:30 p.m. CDT
TV: Big Ten Network+ | Live Results | Live Video: Track / Field
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's track and field team will be in pursuit of its first outdoor conference team title since 2008 as it enters the Big Ten Outdoor Championships at Illinois' Demerjian Park this Friday through Sunday (May 14-16) among the top contenders for the team trophy.
With men ranked top-10 in the conference this year in 13 of the 21 events to be contested over the course of the championships' three days, the Wolverines are ranked second overall in the conference in the final Track and Field Rating Index from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). They are expected to compete with Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana and Minnesota for the top spots in the team standings.
In-person attendance for spectators is limited, and no public ticket sales will be made available. Per the Big Ten, "venue seating will be limited to team pass lists that provide reserved ticketed seating for spectators."
Those unable to attend can follow the action for free on the Big Ten Network+ streaming service, which will carry dedicated track event and field event streams on all three days of the event. Live results also are available via Primetime Timing.
The official social media channels of Michigan track and field also will provide live updates, primarily on the @umichtrack Twitter account.
Meet Schedule
The Wolverines begin the title hunt Friday (May 14) at 11:30 a.m. CDT in the decathlon, with their field event and track entries set to begin competing at 5:30 p.m. CDT. In addition to preliminary rounds in running events, the night also will feature the 10,000-meter final at 7:30 p.m. CDT.
Competition resumes Saturday with the final session of the decathlon starting at 10:30 a.m. CDT, followed by field events starting at 2:15 p.m. CDT and track races at 4 p.m. CDT. Most events on the track are prelims, with the final in the 3,000-meter steeplechase scheduled to conclude the evening by 7 p.m. CDT.
Sunday's finale is a finals-only affair, with field events beginning for Michigan at 12:30 p.m. CDT and the track program beginning at 12:45 p.m. CDT. A team champion will be known no later than 3:45 p.m. CDT, pending any potential delays, with the conclusion of the 4x400 relay.
Wolverines to Watch
Leading the charge for Michigan will be top-seeded All-Americans Tom Brady (10,000 meters), Andrew Liskowitz (shot put) and Ayden Owens (decathlon). Michigan has even more individual All-American firepower on the roster in Jack Aho (5,000 meters), Tom Dodd (1,500 meters), John Meyer (shot put), Devin Meyrer (10,000 meters).
The depth extends to significant experience at the conference level, with the lineup featuring numerous additional previous Big Ten Championships individual scorers in Roland Amarteifio (400-meter hurdles), Heath Baldwin (decathlon), Anthony Berry (800 meters), Nick Foster (1,500 and 5,000 meters), Cassidy Henshaw (high jump, long jump), Mason Mahacek (decathlon), Job Mayhue (110-meter hurdles), Max Wagner (high jump) and Josh Zeller (110-meter hurdles).
Several 2021 standout Wolverines also are poised to score individually for the first time, including Dubem Amene (400 meters), Christian Hubaker (3,000-meter steeplechase), Joost Plaetinck (3,000-meter steeplechase), Oli Raimond (1,500 and 5,000 meters), Austin Remick (3,000-meter steeplechase) and Derrick Simmons (800 meters).
How the Big Ten Outdoor Championships Work
Each of the teams in the conference has the opportunity to enter student-athletes into the 21 events on the Big Ten Indoor Championships meet program. Student-athletes will compete against each other in each of those events, with points awarded to the respective teams of the top-eight finishers.
Event winners will get 10 points for their teams, with the runners-up receiving eight points in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring. The team that accumulates the most points from its student-athletes will be crowned the team champion.
Notes
• Led by head coaches Jerry Clayton and James Henry, the Michigan men checked in at No. 23 nationally in the latest Track and Field Rating Index (TFRI) from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
• After becoming what is believed to be the first-ever pair of collegiate teammates to throw farther than 20.30 meters in the same shot put competition last Saturday at the Len Paddock Open, Andrew Liskowitz and John Meyer will look to keep the momentum going at Big Tens. Though he is a two-time Big Ten champion indoors, the outdoor crown has thus far eluded 2021 conference leader Liskowitz. He will face a stiff challenge from teammate Meyer, the indoor first team All-American. Should either man win, it would be Michigan's first title in the event outdoors since John Nielsen in 1983.
• Ayden Owens will be going after his first Big Ten title in a Michigan uniform in the decathlon, where he is the top seed. Though his 7,732-point performance earlier this year is tops in the conference, he will be aiming to match or exceed the 8,130-point total he posted as a freshman for Southern California. The meet record of 7,897 points from 2012 will be very much in play, as is the Michigan school record of 8,015 points by Steven Bastien in 2017. The last Michigan man to win the event was Bastien in 2017.
• Tom Brady is the top seed at the 10,000-meter distance with his 28:46.83, and he will be looking to parlay that into Michigan's third win in the event in the last five editions of the meet after eventual NCAA champion Ben Flanagan won in 2016 and 2018. The All-American Brady will have significant competition from teammate Devin Meyrer, the two-time cross country All-American and indoor school record-holder at 5,000 meters. Both men will be looking for their first conference titles.
• A significant pivot point in the team race will likely be the 110-meter hurdles, where Iowa, Nebraska and Michigan are ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 4 in the USTFCCCA Event Squad Rankings, respectively, for their depth. Michigan has Big Ten No. 4 Josh Zeller and No. 7 Job Mayhue in its corner, while Iowa and Nebraska both have three top-10 hurdlers each. The indoor equivalent 60-meter hurdles saw each of the top five finishers within .02 of one another.
• Michigan also will have an opportunity for significant points in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, where it has four of the top nine entries in No. 3 Christian Hubaker, No. 5 Joost Plaetinck, No. 6 Austin Remick and No. 9 Jacob Branch. Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana also have highly-ranked entries in the event, giving Michigan both a chance to score big points and displace points for those rival teams in what is expected to be a tight team race.
• The 1,500 meters also may prove crucial, with Nick Foster ranked No. 2 and Tom Dodd at No. 5 trying to recapture the form that saw him twice run sub-four-minute miles en route to All-America honors indoors.
• An X-factor for the Wolverines could be Dubem Amene at 400 meters, where he is ranked No. 5 and is coming off a string of impressive breakthrough performances. A strong finish -- potentially an improvement on his back-to-back 46-second efforts -- would go a long way in both scoring big points and limiting a strong Iowa squad. He also will play crucial roles on the 4x100 and especially 4x400 relay races, the latter of which is the meet finale and the last chance to score points.
• Also a member of both of those relays, Roland Amarteifio will be looking to move up from No. 8 in the 400-meter hurdles and replicate or improve upon his fourth- and fifth-place finishes from the past two editions of Big Ten Outdoors. He is among several Michigan men ranked just outside the top eight who could make moves into scoring position, including decathletes No. 8 Heath Baldwin and No. 10 Mason Mahacek; No. 8 triple jumper Bera Ajala; and No. 9 800-meter runner Derrick Simmons.
Up Next
Thu-Sat., May 27-29 -- at NCAA East Preliminaries (Jacksonville, Fla.), TBA
Players Mentioned
