Michigan Set to Host Rivals in Scored Simmons-Harvey Invitational

Saturday, January 15

Ann Arbor, Mich.

11:00 AM

Michigan

Simmons-Harvey Invitational

Joshua Zeller (Michigan Photography)

Michigan Set to Host Rivals in Scored Simmons-Harvey Invitational

1/13/2022 3:54:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

By: Kyle Terwillegar

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Note: Effective Jan. 1, 2022, the University of Michigan has instituted a proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative-test protocol for indoor athletic events. Face masks continue to be required and must be worn during all home indoor athletic events. [ U-M Vaccination Policy ]

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Hardware is on the line in front of a national Big Ten Network audience this Saturday (Jan. 15) for the University of Michigan men's track and field team as it hosts rivals Michigan State, Indiana and Notre Dame at the world-class U-M Indoor Track Building for the team-scored Simmons-Harvey Invitational.

Both the men's and the women's competitions will comprise a single session -- unlike the split men's and women's competitions of the 2021 season -- beginning with the start of field events at 11 a.m. Preliminary rounds of the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash begin at 11:30 a.m., with the finals-only portion of the track program set to begin at 12:30 p.m. The meet is expected to conclude prior to 4 p.m.

While the proceedings will be streamed live on B1G+, the meet will not air on Big Ten Network until 4:30 p.m., when it makes its tape-delayed television debut.

Entries will not be finalized until Thursday afternoon. Check back to this release for the full details on when each Wolverine will be competing in which events.

Each team is permitted as many as six entries per event, with the top two finishers per school in each event contributing to the overall team scoring. Event winners will score nine points for their respective teams, with the next seven eligible athletes garnering between seven points and one point, depending on their order of finish (9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1).

The team with the most points after all 15 events per gender are finished will earn the team trophy.

Live results will be available through Delta Timing, and updates will be posted throughout the day on the official social media channels of Michigan track and field.

Team Outlook & Notes

• Now under the guidance of Kevin Sullivan in his first year as the director of track and field/cross country for the University of Michigan, the Wolverine men are coming off of a seventh-place finish at the 2021 edition of the Big Ten Indoor Championships. The Wolverines do not return any conference champions, but do have a returning indoor medalist in Nick Foster as well as multiple All-Americans. In total, Michigan returns student-athletes who combined to score 36 of its 52 points.

• Returning All-Americans: Tom Brady (indoor 3,000 meters), Tom Dodd (indoor mile); Christian Hubaker (outdoor steeplechase); Devin Meyrer (cross country, indoor 5,000 meters)

• Returning Individual Big Ten Indoor Championships scorers: Tom Brady (5,000 meters), Tom Dodd (mile), Nick Foster (mile, 3,000 meters), Devin Meyrer (5,000 meters), Mason Mahacek (heptathlon x2), Joshua Zeller (60-meter hurdles x2), Cassidy Henshaw (high jump), Job Mayhue (2019 60-meter hurdles), Will Landowne (2019 3,000 meters)

• Current school record-holders: Devin Meyrer (indoor 5,000 meters)

• The mid-distance events were the strongest for the Wolverines in their season-opening Wolverine Invitational last Saturday (Jan. 8), with newcomers Miles Brown and Henry Johnson both posting historic performances at 600 meters and 800 meters, respectively. At 1:18.82, Brown set a meet record, moved to No. 7 in school history and turned in the second-fastest time by a freshman in school history. Johnson recorded a 1:51.24 for the fifth-fastest freshman mark in school history at that distance, behind the likes of multiple-time Olympians Nate Brannen, Nick Willis and Kevin Sullivan.

• Michigan also got strong 2022 debuts in the field from runners-up Bera Ajala in the long jump in his Michigan indoor debut and Aiden Felty in the shot put in his overall Michigan debut. Eli Winter also established a new personal record at No. 10 in school history in the weight throw.

• With four returning All-Americans among them, the Michigan distance corps will be looked to as a significant source of points for the Wolverines at the conference championships. Tom Dodd blasted a pair of sub-four-minute miles en route to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and qualified in the 1,500 meters outdoors. Devin Meyrer will look to recapture the form he showed with three sub-14:00 efforts at 5,000 meters last spring en route to a three-day span that saw him earn All-America honors both indoors and at the rescheduled 2020 cross country championships. Tom Brady was sensational in his first full year competing for the Wolverines as an indoor All-American at 3,000 meters and the Big Ten runner-up at 10,000 meters outdoors. Christian Hubaker was the highest national finisher among the group of him, Joost Plaetinck and Austin Remick who all broke 8:50 in the outdoor steeplechase.

• The distance squad also will rely heavily on Big Ten standout Nick Foster, who accumulated three individual conference medals in 2021 between indoors and outdoors. Foster and Tom Dodd are at the head of a talented mid-distance group that also includes standout newcomers in British national Henry Johnson and in-state high school talent Miles Brown, as well as established scorers in Oli Raimond, Thomas Shilgalis, Derrick Simmons and Cole Johnson. The longer distance side will be bolstered by the breakthroughs of Zach Stewart and Colton Yesney this fall on the cross country trails.

• With big steps in each of his first seasons at Michigan, Joshua Zeller is in position to challenge the best in the conference and the nation. He advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships and is knocking on the door of both the U-M indoor and outdoor records. After scoring twice as a member of Michigan's relays at the 2021 Big Ten Indoor Championships, Dubem Amene also will look to feature individually in 2022. He broke 47 seconds at 400 meters five times as a freshman outdoors last year, and qualified to compete at the World U20 Championships for Nigeria, where he also ran a leg of the fourth-place squad. Michigan will look for big contributions from, among others, newcomers Lawrence Gilliam, Jack Juds and Jacob Koerner, and veteran hurdler Job Mayhue.

• Mason Mahacek is the veteran of the group, having twice scored in the Big Ten Indoor heptathlon and once more in the outdoor decathlon in his young career. This also will be the first full year in the program for Scottish triple jumper Bera Ajala, who joined the team mid-year in 2021. Outdoors he was the Scottish and English U20 champion, and competed at the European Athletics U20 Championships for Great Britain.

Up Next

Saturday, Jan. 22 -- host, Michigan Invitational (U-M indoor Track Building), 11 a.m.