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Sports

Northville Resident Shines in First Track Season at U-M

Arastu reaches NCAA Outdoor Championships as a freshman.

Ali Arastu made the most of his freshman year at the University of Michigan.

A star track athlete for , Arastu continued his success while competing for the Wolverines.

Arastu ran the 400-meter hurdles and qualified for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, IA, on June 8-11.

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In Wednesday’s preliminaries, Arastu struggled, but he still earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association honorable mention All-America.

“It’s a nice status to have, but hopefully I earn first team All-America,” Arastu said. “That’s the next goal.”

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In the East Preliminaries, held at Indiana University on May 26-28, Arastu finished with a personal-best time of 50.90 seconds in the semifinals, good for sixth place.

At the Championships, Arastu ran a 53.64, finishing 24th.

“It was one of my worst times of the season,” Arastu said. “I was definitely overwhelmed by the other guys and the meet itself. In years to come, I should be better at maintaining those feelings and hopefully I’ll do better. 

“It was a good learning experience and a good experience overall, just being there. It’s my freshman year, so whatever I did was going to be an accomplishment. Getting to that level was one of the best accomplishments I could have.”

Arastu’s mother, Sakina, and his two older sisters, Zainab and Fatema, all went to watch him perform.

“Even though the race didn’t go as well as I wanted, they were excited just for me to be there,” Arastu said. “They’re always pretty positive. They were just happy overall.”

U-M men’s head coach Fred LaPlante said for Arastu to qualify for the meet was quite an accomplishment.

“At the Division I level, overall, he was the No. 2 freshman in the U.S. (in the 400 hurdles),” he said. “Only two guys made it to the meet as freshman.”

Nebraska freshman Miles Ukaoma ran the 400 hurdles in a time of 50.70 in the West Preliminaries. He ran a 51.33 in the Championships, good for 16th. 

In high school track, boys run the 300 hurdles. 

“That extra 100 meters takes a lot of adjusment,” LaPlante said. “Arastu’s natural stride length lends itself to him being able to adjust quicker. He put in a lot of extra training, which helped. He’s one of those people, he’s got a little something in him, he can’t keep himself from competing.”

Arastu said there is definitely a transition you have to make, which he focused on during the summer and indoor season at U-M.

“Coach had me do a lot more distance runs, 600 meters, stuff like that,” he said. 

Arastu's track bio can be found at Michigan's athletics website, MGoBlue.com. He won the 600 and helped U-M win the 4x400-meter relay at the Grand Valley Sate Big Meet during the indoor season. He placed 12th in the 600 at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 26-27.

By the time the outdoor season rolled around, Arastu had settled in to competing in the 400 hurdles. He won the event at the Florida State University Relays (March 25-26), at the UCLA Rafer Johnson Invitational (April 9) and finished fourth in the Big Ten Outdoor Championships (May 13-15).

“He’s really ran well all season,” LaPlante said. “That was his only subpar performance. He just didn’t have a good day. But he was able to get a chance to be at the meet. He’ll learn from the experience and will be more prepared emotionally the next time around.

“He had a stellar year at every meet with the exception of this one. Rarely do people bat a thousand at anything.”

Arastu was anxious to get home and relax with his family after his race. He said before too long he’ll start hitting the weight room and work on techniques that will help him improve by the time the team starts training in September.

“He worked at a high level before,” LaPlante said. “If he continues to work like that, he can do some great things.”

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