Michigan
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Brady Wins 10,000 Meters, Michigan Eighth After Day One of Big Ten Championships
5/12/2023 11:54:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site:Bloomington, Ind. (Billy Hayes Track & Field Complex)
Event: Big Ten Outdoor Championships (Day 1 of 3)
U-M Result: Eighth of 13Â teams (12 points) after Day 1
Next U-M Event: Saturday, May 13 -- at Big Ten Outdoor Championships - Day Two (Bloomington, Ind.), 11:30 a.m.
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The University of Michigan men's track and field team kicked off the 2023 Outdoor Big Ten Track and Field Championships on Friday (May 12) at Indiana's Billy Hayes Track and Field Complex. Michigan closed the day behind Tom Brady winning the 10,000-meter run and multiple Wolverines advancing to event finals.
The Wolverines sit in eighth place in the team standings with 12 points after day one. Minnesota (32 points) sits atop the point standings.
Brady won the final event of the first day of competition handily, finishing in 29:01.25 -- 17 seconds ahead of the second-place runner, Iowa's Max Murphy -- and accounting for 10 of Michigan's points on the day. The race began with Michigan State's CarLee Stimpfel taking the lead early and holding onto it for nearly 18 laps. Brady raced strategically, coasting behind Stimpfel at a comfortable pace. In the final laps, Brady made his move, at first fighting off Murphy as the final laps closed in. Once he gained space, Brady was in the clear. This was Brady's first Big Ten championship title and his highest finish at the distance since a second-place showing in 2021.
Michigan picked up additional momentum in the distance events, with Nick Foster, Riley Flemington, and Arjun Jha all racing in the preliminaries of the 1,500 meters and qualifying for the Sunday's (May 14) event final. The Maize and Blue trio will represent one quarter of the competitors in the 12-man final. Foster and Flemington ran alongside Anthony Hancock and Ian Hill in the first heat of the race, with the group running a near 4:01 mile pace. Foster took the heat with a time of 3:43.93 and that time held as the No. 1 finish, automatically advancing him to Sunday. Flemington followed in fourth in the heat and seventh overall with a time of 3:45.32. Jha ran in the third heat and finished 10th overall in a time of 3:46.29. Hancock (3:47.77) and Hill (3:51.04) took 16th and 24th, respectively.
Mason Mahacek ended the day second in the decathlon standings after five events. His score of 3,982 points leaves him tied for third with Michigan State's Ryan Talbot. Mahacek picked up the most points of the day in the high jump, clearing 2.05 meters (6 feet, 8.75 inches) on his first jump to finish first and earning a substantial 850 points. His closest competitor, Wisconsin's Cade Amborn, cleared 1.96 meters (6 feet, 5 inches). Mahacek finished third in the 100 meters in a career-best 10.83 seconds, picking up another 899 points. Additionally, Mahacek finished seventh in the shot put with a heave of 14.09m (46 feet, 2.75 inches), good for 734 points, sixth in the 400 meters (49.38, 843 points), and seventh in the long jump (6.76m; 22 feet, 2.25 inches) to collect 757 points.
In the hammer throw, Eli Winter picked up points, finishing seventh overall with a best throw of 63.81 meters (209 feet, 4 inches). His first three throws were solid, with two throws over 61 meters and one foul. This was enough to advance to finals, where his first two throws resulted in fouls. The junior dug deep on his sixth and final throw, achieving the 63.81-meter heave that secured his spot on the podium. The throw also was a Michigan program all-time top-10 mark, coming in at No. 8.
Henry Sheldon and Cole Sheldon both saw ninth-place finishes in the pole vault, tying with a clearance of 4.84 meters (15 feet, 10.5 inches). Both cleared the height on their first attempt. Henry fought hard to clear 4.99 meters (16 feet, 4.5 inches), narrowly missing the height on his third attempt after lightly clipping the bar.
The Wolverines will continue at the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday (May 13) with day two beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the Billy Hayes Track and Field Complex with Mahacek kicking things off for Michigan in the decathlon 110-meter hurdles.
Players Mentioned
