Historic Mile Highlights Wolverines’ Success at Michigan Invitational

Historic Mile Highlights Wolverines’ Success at Michigan Invitational

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

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).

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