Michigan
Red Simmons/Jack Harvey Invitational
U-M Trio Post NCAA Provisional Marks at Home Meet
1/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan sophomore Adam Harris (Wheaton, Ill./North) broke the school record in the men's 60-meter dash at the Red Simmons/Jack Harvey Invitational on Saturday (Jan. 20) at the U-M Indoor Track Building. The Wolverines' afternoon was highlighted by three NCAA qualifying efforts.
Harris sprinted to a school record in the 60-meter dash.
Harris broke the school record in the 60-meter dash when he blazed an NCAA provisional time of 6.71. The previous record of 6.72, which was held by both Gene Brown (1970) and Andrew Bruce (1982), was a converted time from the 55-meter dash, the predecessor to 60-meter event. Harris' previous best in the event was 6.77. Earlier in the day, he competed in the long jump for the first time in his career, jumping to a mark of 22-4 1/2 to take third place.
Sophomore Lex Williams (Ann Arbor, Mich./Dexter) also captured a provisional time and shattered his own personal record in the Kris Eggle 3,000-meter run. Williams crossed the line in 8:02.36, more than four seconds faster than his previous best of 8:06.57, to win the event. Also setting a personal record in the event was sophomore/freshman Brandon Fellows (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island). He finished in third place with a time of 8:15.70, at least 15 seconds ahead of his previous best indoor and at least six seconds faster than his best outdoor performance. The Wolverines dominated the 32-person field, placing all seven of their entrants in the top 13 positions.
Rounding out Michigan's NCAA qualifying efforts was senior Michael Whitehead (Norristown, Pa./Norristown Area), who earned victory in his specialty, the triple jump. The U-M outdoor school record holder and 2006 outdoor NCAA runner-up jumped to a mark of 51-0 3/4. Whitehead was 1-2 1/4 short of the Michigan indoor record of 52-3 1/4.
Michigan had a strong day in the sprint events. Senior Stann Waithe (Towson, Md./Loch Raven) and sophomore Andre Barnes (West Bloomfield, Mich,/West Bloomfield) swept the top two spots in the 400-meter dash. Waithe took first, clocking 48.63, with Barnes crossing the line right behind him with a time of 48.91. Senior John D'Arcy (Clayton, Ohio/Northmont) also captured victory when he won the 600-meter run with a time of 1:20.78. Junior/sophomore Dan Harmsen (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) took third in the 600-meter run, clocking 1:21.38. Michigan's 4x400-meter relay team of Harmsen, Barnes, D'Arcy and Waithe placed first as well, crossing the line in 3:17.20.
Several other Wolverines also set personal records. Fifth-year senior Paul Sarantos (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern) captured two personal bests, one in the shot put (56-2) and one in the weight throw (57-2). Sarantos placed third overall in both events. Junior/sophomore Dan Bedoya (Muskegon, Mich./Reeths-Puffer) also set a new personal record in the weight throw (54-5 1/4), surpassing his previous mark by 2-10 3/4. Sophomore/freshman Chris Baldwin (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview) cleared 14-7 1/4 in the pole vault, bettering his previous best by 1 1/4 inches.
In Friday night's action (Jan. 19), freshman Frank Shotwell (Medina, Ohio/Medina) won the men's pentathlon, scoring a total of 3,643 points. Out of the five total competitors, Shotwell never finished lower than third in any of the events, winning the 1,000-meter run (2:54.87, 715 points) and the long jump (21-3 1/4, 693 points).
Next week, the Maize and Blue will travel to Bloomington, Ind., to compete in the Indiana Gladstein Invitational on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 26-27) at the Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse. Friday's action begins at noon, while Saturday is slated for a 10 a.m. start.
N O T E S
This year's fourth annual Kris Eggle Invitational 3,000-meter run honors the former Wolverine cross country and track athlete who was killed in the line of duty while serving at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument at the Arizona/Mexico border.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Ron Warhurst
On the success of the team today ... "It was a fantastic day. For Adam Harris to come out and break a school record and then for the team to finish the day with three provisional qualifiers at our first home meet, it was a really great day. We had a great crowd today. It was standing room only, maybe about a thousand people.
"We put almost everybody on our roster out except for two of our captains, Jeff Porter and Mike Woods. They're a little bit sore but they'll both be running next weekend. They are both very critical people in our lineup. I think we have a pretty nice team; we just need to keep everybody healthy and keep on improving. That's all you can hope for."
U-M Senior Captain Michael Whitehead
On his performance ... "I guess everything went fine. I'm slightly disappointed, but it can always be worse. I thank God for being able to jump as far as I did today. I actually went from a short approach. I think we would have gotten the school record if we had actually went after it 100 percent and went from a full approach. Also, if there were more guys in the field; I got a little tired halfway through. I can't say anything bad about today's performance; I'd give it a grade of a B."
On how far the team can go this season ... "We can win Big Tens. Especially if we give a lot of hard work. Judging from the times we ran today -- we had Adam Harris, who broke the school record, we also had some guys that did really well and some guys who showed up for us. That's all we need. As the year progresses, we'll have more guys do the same."
Contact: Tim Trunzo (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
