Michigan
Simmons/Harvey Invitational
Four Wolverines Pick Up Wins at Simmons/Harvey Invitational
1/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Event: Red Simmons/Jack Harvey Invitational
U-M Team Result: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sat., Jan. 30-31 -- at Indiana Relays (Bloomington, Ind.)
Complete Results | Photo Gallery
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senior Adam Harris(Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) won the 60-meter dash with an NCAA provisional time of 6.71 to lead the No. 17-ranked University of Michigan men's track and field team on Saturday (Jan. 24) at the Simmons/Harvey Invitational in the U-M Indoor Track Building. Four different Wolverines picked up wins during the all-day competition.
Harris stumbled out of the blocks to start the 60-meter race but still managed to lead the field throughout the race. The No. 1 seed in the final, Harris crossed the line .06 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher to give the Wolverines' their second provisional time of the season.
Sophomore Carl Buchanon(South Bend, Ind./Clay) and junior/sophomore Nick McCampbell(Detroit, Mich./Cass Technical) continued their early-season success in the 60-meter high hurdles as the pair swept the top two spots in the event for the second week in a row. Buchanon turned in a new career-best time of 8.04 seconds to finish first, edging out McCampbell by just one one-hundreth of a second.
Junior Matt Wheeler(Atherton, Calif./Menlo-Atherton) and sophomore David St. Amant(Livonia, Mich./Churchill) continued the Wolverines' success in the sprint events, finishing 1-2 in the 400-meter dash. Both Wheeler and St. Amant won their heats to claim the top two spots. Wheeler finished first in heat two with a season-best time of 50.34. The junior took the lead at about the halfway point in the race and extended it throughout the final 200 meters. In heat one, St. Amant battled South Florida's Reshaw Exilien throughout the race. The two runners ran together down the final stretch, but St. Amant managed to outstretch Exilien at the finish line to win the heat with a time of 50.43, .02 seconds ahead of the runner from USF.
In the weight throw, U-M fifth-year senior Dan Bedoya (Muskegon, Mich./Reeths-Puffer) and senior Brendan Lodge(Narragansett, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) recorded the two longest throws of any college thrower in the event as they finished second and third, respectively. Bedoya recorded a throw of 59-5.75 (18.13m), while Lodge threw the weight 58-4.75 (17.80m).
Senior/junior Sean Pruitt(Cato, Wis./Valders) earned his second win of the season with a first-place finish in the shot put. Pruitt recorded a season-best throw of 55-2, over five feet further than the second-place finisher, to pick up the win. Pruitt currently holds the top throw on the team this season in both the shot put and the weight throw.
Michigan hits the road next week as the Wolverines will travel to Bloomington, Ind., to run in the Indiana Relays on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 30-31).
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Fred LaPlante
On the meet... "For this kind of meet, non-scoring, the guys who did participate I think they did a good job competing. I was happy with all the guys that ran the 400, the way they ran the race. The hurdlers went well, the sprints with Adam, we had some good results in the weight throw and Sean (Pruitt) won the shot so that was good. Anyway, for this type of meet it was perfect for us."
On Adam Harris... "I figured Adam was ready to run fast. The thing that I was really happy about was Adam actually got out of the blocks ahead of the guys despite the fact he stumbled. So even stumbling out of the blocks he beat two national-caliber guys. He was ahead the whole race and I think he has got a lot more in him, so that is pretty exciting. For him, his next two meets he will be facing some high-level competition, which he is ready for."
U-M Senior Adam Harris
On his race... "I felt pretty good. I am still having some back problems, but it is what it is. I still tried my hardest. 6.71 was the best I could do today, but hopefully I will be able to drop it down in the future."
On what he needs to improve... "Not stumbling out of the blocks would be pretty good. I still feel like I can end a bit more top end. I just need to get over these injuries first. It's alright. I can do it. I am probably about 95 percent. Pretty close, but there is a little something extra. I just need to bring it out."
U-M Junior Matt Wheeler
On his race... "This week in practice my hamstring has been hurting a little bit so I started off slower in all my workouts and ended stronger, so I thought I would try that in my race today. I was in the slower heat today so I was able to run my race the way I wanted to and take control. It worked today, depending on how competition goes I might have to change strategy, but it worked today and it felt good."
U-M Sophomore Carl Buchanon
On his race... "I came out of the trials and I didn't have a great race, but it wasn't bad. I knew I was going to have to work in the finals. I needed to stay composed, keep my speed in between the hurdles and keep my form and technique right. So I was practicing that before the finals and it all kind of clicked in the finals. It was my PR today. I would still like it to be lower, make that NCAA provisional time, but overall it was a pretty good race."
Players Mentioned
