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Wolverines shine at NCAA Indoor Championships

BY ROGER SAUERHAFT
Daily Sports Writer
Published March 15, 2009

Even before this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championships, men’s track and field senior Adam Harris said he had already accomplished all of his indoor career goals.

So his fourth-place finish in the 60-meter dash Saturday in College Station, Texas — which made him the first Wolverine runner to ever achieve All-America status twice as an individual — was a bonus.

Michigan coach Fred LaPlante stressed the significance of the fourth-place finish, saying that Harris’s competition was the best he saw all season.

“When you get here, you realize how many good people there are,” LaPlante said through the Michigan Athletic Department. “So for him to make the final and then get fourth was a good performance. … He had an okay start but he ran really well. When he got to top-end speed, he closed it up. It was a good race.”

The Wolverines concluded their indoor season with seven team points at the NCAA Championship, good for 32nd place. Five points came courtesy of Harris's 6.62 second time in the 60-meter dash.

It was a step up from Michigan's 44th-place showing last season. Harris was responsible for all five of the team's points in that meet.

Harris’s time was the exact same as last year’s time in the 60-meter dash, where he also finished fourth. He was fresh off his best time of this season, set Feb. 21 at the Silverston Invitational, when he ran a 6.60.

Fellow senior Justin Switzer also gained two points and All-America status after he finished seventh in the mile run with a time of 4:02.99. It was the second All-America honor of his career. Two years ago, he was on the distance medley relay team that finished seventh at nationals.

“He led the race for the first three laps,” LaPlante said. “He was in a pack of guys at the end. He finished seventh, but there was only about a second between second and seventh so he was right up there. It was his first NCAA final and he did great."

New Mexico senior Lee Emanuel finished first in the mile with a time of 4:00.36, less than two seconds ahead of Switzer.

Redshirt junior thrower Sean Pruitt came into the meet as the eighth seed in the weight throw, but had a disappointing showing at nationals. He threw the weight 64.5-feet, nearly five feet shorter than his 69.4-foot throw that won his event on Jan. 31 at the Indiana Relays.

Michigan now has two weeks off before they begin their outdoor season March 27th at the Rice Bayou Classic, held in Houston, Texas.