Michigan
Ohio State
Wolverines Take "The Dual" Pennant Back From Ohio State
4/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Columbus, Ohio (Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium)
Event: The Dual
Score: Michigan 105, Ohio State 98
Next U-M Event:Fri-Sat., April 17-18 -- at Kansas Relays (Lawrence, Kan.); Saturday, April 18-- at Eastern Michigan Invitational (Ypsilanti, Mich.)
Complete Results | Quotes
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five different Wolverines won multiple events to lead the University of Michigan men's track and field team to a 105-98 win over Ohio State in the outdoor portion of "The Dual" on Saturday afternoon (April 11) at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Senior Adam Harris(Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North), senior/junior Lex Williams(Ann Arbor, Mich./Dexter), senior/junior Sean Pruitt(Cato, Wis./Valders), sophomore Carl Buchanon(South Bend, Ind./Clay) and sophomore/freshman Robert Peddlar(Kingston, Jamaica/Wolmer's Boys) each won two events for the Maize and Blue.
Pruitt kicked off the afternoon by extending his U-M record in the hammer throw for the second week in a row. The Cato, Wis., native notched a throw 204-5 (62.30m) to pick up the win. The throw bested his previous school record by five feet. Senior/junior Brendan Lodge(Narrangansett, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) finished right behind Pruitt in second place with a season-best toss of 191-9 (58.44m). Both throwers surpassed the NCAA regional distance and the sweep of the top two spots gave the Wolverines eight early points.
Pruitt's second win on the day came in the shot put where he recorded a season-best and NCAA regional mark of 57-11 (17.65m). Competing in the shot put for the first time outdoors this season, Pruitt's toss was almost a full foot farther than Buckeye Patrick Whalen, who finished in second.
The Maize and Blue's strong performance in the field continued in the long jump pit with a 1-2 finish by Peddlar and Harris. Peddlar recorded a jump of 23-5 1/4 (7.14m) to earn the win, while Harris jumped 23 1/2 (7.02m) in his first long jump contest of the season to finish in second.
Peddlar followed his win in the long jump with a first-place finish in the triple jump. The Kingston, Jamaica, native's top jump of 47-4 1/2 was over four feet better than the rest of the field.
Junior/sophomore Brandon Fellows(Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island HS) started the day on the track for the Wolverines with a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Competing in the event for the first time this season, Fellows outpaced three Buckeye runners to cross the line first with a time of 9:15.80.
Harris's second-place finish in the long jump was the beginning of a big day for the returning All-American as the senior earned wins in both the 100- and 200-meter dash with NCAA regional times. In the 100, Harris won easily, crossing the line in a season-best 10.32, .34 ahead of the rest of the field. He then completed his sweep of the sprint events with a win in the 200-meter dash as he finished in 21.16.
Junior Kyle Terpak finished in third in both events to earn four team points for Michigan.
In the 1,500-meter run, U-M took three of the top four spots, including a 1-2 finish by Williams and senior/junior Sean McNamara(Elmhurst, Ill./York). Williams crossed the line first with a time of 4:14.86, just ahead of McNamara, who finished with a time of 4:15.78. Junior/sophomore Peter Christmas(Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) finished in fourth with a time of 4:17.84.
Williams continued his strong running in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in first with a time of 8:45.27. The win was Williams' second in as many weeks in the 3,000-meters. McNamara once again followed Williams, finishing in third with a season-best time of 8:50.56.
Michigan's dominant day on the track continued during the hurdles as Buchanon swept both hurdle events. In the high-hurdles, Buchanon finished with a career-best time of 14.35, .22 seconds better than his previous career-best. The South Bend, Ind., native carried his strong performance over to the 400-meter hurdles, where he led a contingent of U-M runners to a sweep of the top three spots. Buchanon finished in first with an NCAA regional time of 52.41 and was followed by fifth-year senior Dan Harmsen(Rockford, Mich./Rockford), who finished second with a time of 53.02, and senior Rob Fiorillio, (Holly, Mich./Holly), who finished third with a time of 53.62.
In the 4x100-meter relay, Harris and Terpak combined with senior Andre Barnes(West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield) and freshman Nicholas Neuman(Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) to win with a time of 41.02. Michigan trailed heading into the anchor leg, but Harris pulled U-M into the lead, finishing just .01 ahead of the Buckeyes.
The Wolverines will split meets as a portion will compete at the Kansas Relays next Friday and Saturday (April 17-18) in Lawrence, Kan., while several members of the team will travel to Ypsilanti, Mich., to compete in the Eastern Michigan Invitational on Saturday (April 18).
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Fred LaPlante
On the win... "It was a very windy day and that affected some of the marks. Sometimes we were running into the wind and sometimes we were running with it. The meet started by going to form in the field events, but when we hit the track we picked up close wins in the steeplechase and 4x100-meter relay, which set the tone for us and we really caught fire from there. We had two multi-event winners in the field and three on the track. It was a real team effort and it was nice to get the pennant back."
On Sean Pruitt... "The good thing about his throwing is that right now they are working pretty hard and it is relatively early in the season, so to have good marks this early is great. For us, he is really a triple threat. Shot, discus and hammer are all technical events and it is hard to do well in all three, but he has been able to do that for us."
On Lex Williams... "I think it is a big deal that Lex Williams is running for us and running well. He is a national-caliber runner who has had some tough times recently. It makes our team so much better when he is on, which he is right now, so that is exciting for us."
On Carl Buchanon... "I feel like he is going to be a great 400-meter hurdler and for our team, he can be a factor for us in the high hurdles at the Big Ten level. It is hard to train for both. We spent more time this week training for the high hurdles and he really came through. I think in the long run the 400-meter hurdles is an event that he can have an impact in on the national level. Last week, he didn't have a great performance race wise, but this week he had a great performance."
Contact: Joe Arancio (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
