A quick stumble as he left the blocks wasn't enough to keep senior All-America sprinter Adam Harris from finishing first.

Harris took the 60-meter dash in just 6.71 seconds and picked up an NCAA provisional mark, leading from start to finish in Saturday's non-scoring Simmons/Harvey Invitational at the Indoor Track Building.

“What I was really happy about was even stumbling out of the blocks, he beat two national-caliber guys and was ahead the whole race,” LaPlante said. “I think he’s got a lot more in him, so that’s exciting.”

The two national-caliber runners that LaPlante referred to were Eastern Michigan's Clint Allen and Johnny Drake, who ran unattached. Allen is the defending Mid-American Conference champion, and LaPlante says Drake once held the world's top time when he attended Central Michigan.

Harris said this wasn't the first time they'd all faced off.

“They’re pretty good friends of mine, so we all have our little camaraderie thing going," Harris said. "I’m used to racing them. I knew it was going to be good competition — Coach was talking about it all week."

The rest of the team-field featured teams including Valparaiso, Central Michigan and South Florida among others.

Harris' performance was part of four first-place finishes on the day for the 17th-ranked Wolverines.

Junior Matt Wheeler won the 400-meter dash, sophomore Carl Buchanon placed first in the 60-meter hurdles and redshirt junior thrower Sean Pruitt won the shot put.

Buchanon, who finished second in hurdles at "The Dual" last week, said he attributed his success to three factors: composure, maintaining speed between the hurdles and keeping the correct technique.

“When I was practicing before, it all kind of came together,” Buchanon said. “I was like, ‘I hope I can get this through the finals,’ and everything just clicked.”

Though the meet doesn't count in the standings, LaPlante said the team’s performance in the non-scoring meet reflected the Wolverines' good preparation.

“This is the kind of meet, non-scoring, after a disappointment, guys did a nice job of competing,” LaPlante said. “I was really happy with the guys that ran the 400, the way they ran the race … For this type of meet, it was perfect for us.”