YPSILANTI - Michigan men's track and field coach Fred LaPlante was honored during this weekend meet at Eastern Michigan's Olds-Marshall Track.

LaPlante was an All-American during his undergraduate years at Eastern Michigan and helped the Eagles to a Division II national title.

On Friday, Eastern Michigan celebrated LaPlante's accomplishments as it recognized the group largely credited with helping the program make the jump to Division I.

And it was for his contributions to one of this weekend's opponents.

For all intents and purposes, the ceremony was the highlight of LaPlante's weekend.

"It was nice to see people from the '60s and '70s that I knew," LaPlante said. "There were actually guys from the '30s, '40s and '50s, so that was neat."

He had planned to showcase the talents of Michigan's distance runners but instead had to sit most of them out. LaPlante only sent a handful of athletes to participate in the non-scoring EMU Invitational.

After placing seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile, senior Justin Switzer was in prime position for a strong outdoor campaign, but a calf injury forced him to sit out this weekend. Sophomore Craig Forys was sidelined with an Achilles injury. The pair make up a strong component of Michigan's distance relays.

LaPlante must now come up with a new lineup for the distance medley relay and the four-mile relay next weekend at the prestigious Penn Relays. The lone positive to take from the meet was redshirt junior Lex Williams's performance.

He continued to improve his mark in the 1,500-meter run, winning the event in 3:43.05. Competing against a familiar Eastern Michigan team, Williams took the lead after 600 meters and never looked back. He was the Wolverines' lone distance runner to compete this weekend.

In the closest race of the meet, Michigan fifth-year senior Dan Harmsen edged fellow teammate sophomore Carl Buchanon by a mere four-hundredths of a second to earn a victory in the 400-meter hurdles. Last weekend, Buchanon took the home the event title over Harmsen in "The Dual" against Ohio State. Both recorded season-best times and earned NCAA regional qualifying marks.

After a disappointing fifth-place performance in the 400-meter dash, senior Andre Barnes took refuge under a football sled in the infield. LaPlante noted Barnes' frustration.

"He was pretty down after the 400," LaPlante said. "He agreed he had to go to the next race and be aggressive. He was a little too tentative and he just feels that he hasn't gotten in shape from his injury from indoors."

In the 200-meter dash, Barnes earned a victory with a season-best time of 21.70, five-hundredths of a second better than his closest competition.

The meet also allowed some of the Wolverines, including the team's star sprinter senior Adam Harris, to rest after competing in two or three events per meet within the last month.

"We weren't planning on running (the 1600-meter relay)," LaPlante said. "Our 4x400-meter guys are all doing an event or two before the relay. If it's the right situation and it's meaningful, guys will go to the well."