Michigan
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Trio of Steeplechase Scorers Feature on Day Two at Big Tens
5/14/2022 11:01:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Minneapolis, Minn. (University of Minnesota Track and Field Stadium)
Event: Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Day Two
U-M Result: 7th of 13 teams (21 points)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, May 15 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships - Day Three (Minneapolis, Minn), 11 a.m. CDT
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- With bronze medalist Christian Hubaker leading three scorers in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the University of Michigan men's track and field turned in a strong showing on the second of three days at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships on Saturday (May 14) within the confines of the University of Minnesota Outdoor Track and Field Stadium.
Third-place Hubaker teamed with fourth-place Austin Remick and sixth-place Joost Plaetinck in the steeplechase to score a combined 14 points, two-thirds of the 21 points the Wolverines will bring into Sunday's final session. Michigan is seventh in the team standings, but is only seven points back of third-place Michigan State, with Iowa (23 points), Purdue (22 points) and Wisconsin (22 points) all just ahead of them.
The Wolverines also got three Saturday points from sixth-place decathlete Mason Mahacek, to go along with four scored Friday night in the 10,000-meter final by fifth-place Tom Brady.
Saturday also saw a number of title and big-point contenders advance, headlined by top 110-meter hurdles qualifier Joshua Zeller. The indoor All-American Zeller was joined in surviving Sunday finals by fellow All-Americans Cole Johnson and Miles Brown at 800 meters, and Dubem Amene at 400 meters.
In the lone track final of the day, Hubaker and Remick established themselves at the front early and were rewarded for their strategy with 8:49.64 and season-best 8:52.39 performances, respectively. Both men stuck right with the Minnesota duo of Alec Basten and Matthew Wilksinson throughout nearly the entire race, before the Gophers created some daylight between them on the final lap.
Though Plaetinck was not in the same form that earned him the bronze medal a year ago, he rallied late for a sixth-place finish in 9:02.39. Sitting in 11th place near the halfway point, Plaetinck steadily climbed through the field in the following laps, moving up to ninth with 1,200 meters to go, seventh with 800 meters to go and finally up to sixth at the bell, where he would stay.
It marked the second year in a row the trio of Hubaker, Remick and Plaetinck all scored at Big Tens, and Remick's performance should be enough to advance him to the NCAA East Preliminaries later this month with the other two. The East Prelims are reserved for the top-48 individuals in each event in the East Region, and serve as the opening rounds of the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
For the fifth straight Big Ten Championships meet, Mahacek contributed points for the Wolverines as he finished sixth with 7,349 points, just shy of his 7,388 lifetime best. He was strong across the board on Saturday, opening with a career-best 15.65-second mark in the 110-meter hurdles. He followed that in the field with a two-meter personal best in the discus at 40.44m (132 feet, 8 inches), an outdoor personal record-tying 4.80m (15-9) make in the pole vault and a career-best 46.22m (151-8) heave in the javelin.
He closed out the two-day, 10-event competition with a 4:39.04 performance at 1,500 meters, second-best in the field.
In qualifying action, Zeller blasted a 13.46 (+1.1m/s) that ranks second in school history behind only his 13.42 school record from March. He was nearly two-tenths of a second faster than anyone else in the field, and he will be joined in Sunday's final by Job Mayhue, who finished fifth overall in 13.95.
Brown and Johnson took very different paths to qualifying for the 800-meter final. In the first heat, Brown outkicked Michigan State's John Petruno to the line by .07 seconds to get the automatic berth reserved for heat winners. Had he finished behind Petruno, he would have missed the final, as his time of 1:52.28 was well outside the at-large qualifying cutoff.
In the third heat, Johnson ran fast from the front and was only overtaken in the closing meters by indoor champion Camden Marshall of Ohio State by .15 seconds in 1:49.29. Though he did not receive the automatic berth, his time held up as the second-fastest of the day.
Michigan just missed having a third qualifier as Henry Johnson clocked 1:51.18 to miss the at-large cutoff by about a third of a second in 11th place.
The first man to book his trip to the Sunday track program was Amene, who ran away from his 400-meter qualifying heat to automatically advance. Amene took control in the second half of the race, powering down the homestretch and building what eventually became a 1.61-second victory in 46.17. His time was the second-fastest of the day, putting him in position to replicate or improve upon his silver medal in this event at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.
The final day at the Big Ten Championships is scheduled for a noon CDT start.
Michigan Results
Q/q = qualified for the next round
200 meter dash
Prelims
20. Jacob Koerner / 21.57 (+0.9m/s]
22. Ryan McCloskey / 21.70 (+1.6m/s]
400 meter dash
Prelims
2. Dubem Amene / 46.17Q
24. Lawrence Gilliam / 49.01
800 meter run
Prelims
2. Cole Johnson / 1:49.29q
11. Henry Johnson / 1:51.18
15. Thomas Shilgalis / 1:51.56
19. Miles Brown / 1:52.28Q
1,500 meter run
Prelims
3. Nick Foster / 3:45.05Q
4. Tom Dodd / 3:45.25Q
12. Anthony DeKraker / 4:38.62
17. Anthony Hancock / 3:51.93 [New PR]
21. Will Landowne / 3:52.32
Steeplechase
Final
3. Christian Hubaker / 8:49.64 (Six points)
4. Austin Remick / 8:52.39 (Five points)
6. Joost Plaetinck / 9:02.39 (Three points)
13. Joe Meyers / 9:20.60
17. Jack Spamer / 9:31.07
10,000 meter run
Final
5. Tom Brady / 29:09.53 (Four points)
11. Devin Meyrer / 29:42.98
17. Zach Stewart / 30:04.59
110 meter hurdles
Prelims
1. Joshua Zeller / 13.46Q (+1.1m/s]
5. Job Mayhue / 13.95q (+1.1m/s]
400 meter hurdles
Prelims
20. Gabe Piepergerdes / 54.66
Shot Put
Final
22. Aiden Felty / 15.84m (51-11.5)
Hammer Throw
Final
21. Tony Sommers / 55.91m (183-5)
Decathlon
Final
6. Mason Mahacek / 7,349 points (Three team points)
100 meter dash / 10.94 [+1.8m/s] (874 pts) [New PR] / Place: 4
Long Jump / 6.44m (21-1.5) [+1.1m/s] (684 pts) / Place: 8
Shot Put / 12.48m (40-11.25) (636 pts) / Place: 6
High Jump / 2.00m (6-6.75) (803 pts) / Place: 2
400 meter dash / 49.51 (837 pts) / Place: 3
110 meter hurdles / 15.65 (+1.1m/s) (773 pts) [New PR] / Place: 11
Discus / 40.44m (132-8) (674 pts) [New PR] / Place: 5
Pole Vault / 4.80m (15-9) (849 pts) [New PR] / Place: 2
Javelin / 46.22m (151-7) (533 pts) [New PR] / Place: 9
1500 meter run / 4:39.04 (686 pts) / Place: 2
Players Mentioned
