Michigan
Michigan Invitational
Historic Mile Highlights Wolverines' Success at Michigan Invitational
1/14/2023 8:20:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (U-M Indoor Track Building)
Event: Michigan Invitational
U-M Result: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Jan. 21 -- host, Simmons-Harvey Invitational (U-M Indoor Track Building), TBA
• Complete Results (PDF)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Nick Foster and Arjun Jha of the University of Michigan men's track and field team ran sub-four-minute miles at Saturday's (Jan. 14) Michigan Invitational at the U-M Indoor Track and Field Building. Their performances were part of a race that broke numerous meet and facility records and highlighted the Wolverines' success in running events throughout the day.
After last weekend's standout performances at the season-opening Wolverine Invitational, the Michigan men set the bar high in the mile. With a goal of posting a time under four minutes, the highly competitive field of top-tier collegiate athletes and professional runners held the attention of those in attendance. Foster and Jha rose to the occasion, running 3:59.01 and 3:59.24 respectively.
Foster and Jha finished third and fourth, and the winner of the event -- Hobbs Kessler of Very Nice Track Club -- setting a new facility and state record. Cole Johnson set a career-best time of 4:03.40, good for ninth place. The top seven finishers in the mile beat the previous meet record.
Michigan's middle-distance runners also made their mark in the 600 and 800 meters. In the 600 meters, Miles Brown won the event in 1:17.06, with Henry Johnson finishing second in 1:19.56, Thomas Shilgalis third in a career-best 1:19.81 and Derrick Simmons in fifth (1:21.59). In the 800 meters, Riley Flemington made a strong Michigan debut, running 1:53.97 to take fourth.
Michigan also had success in the field events. In the pole vault, Henry Sheldon took second, clearing 5.00m (16 feet, 4.75 inches), besting this season-opening jump of 4.90m (16 feet, 0.75 inches) at last weekend's Wolverine Invitational. Bera Ajala won the long jump with a career-best leap of 7.19m (23 feet, 7.25 inches). Cade Moran and Aiden Felty took second and third place, respectively, in the shot put. Moran threw 17.75m (58 feet, 3 inches) to set a new career-best and Felty threw 16.61m (54 feet, 6 inches).
Other notable performances were seen in the 200 meters and 3,000 meters. Joshua Zeller won the 200 meters (22.03 seconds) in his first meet of the season. In the 3,000 meters, former Wolverine Ben Flanagan, crushed the previous facility record. Running 7:55.54, he beat the previous record by just more than three seconds.
Next Saturday (Jan. 21), the Wolverines will host their third and final event of their three-weekend season-opening homestand with the Simmons-Harvey Invitational. Start time at the U-M Indoor Track Building is to be determined. The event will be broadcast n tap delay at 4:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
Players Mentioned
