YPSILANTI — Fred LaPlante's Michigan head coaching career started this weekend with a trip across town to face off against his alma mater for the Eastern Michigan Invitational.

LaPlante, who served as associate head coach for eleven years, traded roles with nine-year head coach Ron Warhurst in September.

LaPlante used his team's performance at the non-scoring meet as a warmup for next Saturday’s home opener, "The Dual" against rival Ohio State.

One of LaPlante's main objectives for the invitational was to “shake the cobwebs out," but after the Wolverines won just two of 35 events, he had mixed feelings about their success.

“(The story of the meet was) how close we were to winning some events but not winning any,” LaPlante said just before the team's two victories. “It shows we are competing, but next we have to get over the hump. Certainly, nobody can walk away resting on their laurels. There’s work to be done.”

Redshirt junior Tony Nalli finished first in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:24:87, seven seconds ahead of his nearest competition.

Michigan took the next event, the 4x400-meter relay, in 3:19:96 thanks to the efforts of junior Matt Wheeler, sophomore Carl Buchanon, sophomore David St. Amant and fifth-year senior Dan Harmsen.

LaPlante noted the two pleasant surprises from the meet were in the outcomes of the 60-meter hurdles and weight-throwing events. The Wolverines finished second and third in both events.

Sophomore Troy Woolfolk, a cornerback on the football team, also caught the eye of his coach. In the finals of the 60-meter dash, Woolfolk dropped four-tenths of a second off his qualifying-round time. The finish left him just three-hundredths of a second out of first place with a time of 6.86. Fellow sophomore Robert Peddlar finished third, just .03 seconds behind Woolfolk.

“I honestly owe this to football because Mike Barwis has such a good program,” Woolfolk said of his improvement from last season. “He teaches us more explosion, so coming off the blocks, I feel more comfortable with my top speed.”

He added that he calls his father, Butch, a former All-American tailback and Michigan track star after each meet, to tell him of his progress. The younger Woolfolk says his goal is to break his father’s 200-meter school record, but for the moment, he has his sights set on next Saturday's meet against Ohio State.

“I’m real anxious about it,” Woolfolk said. “Since they beat us (in football), this is my chance to make it even, even the score. So I’m going to bring something extra for that.”