The Simmons-Harvey Invitational in the Michigan Indoor Track Building this past weekend may have been non-scoring, but for the men’s track and field team, it sure felt like a win.

The meet, named for former Wolverine track greats Red Simmons and Jack Harvey, allowed the participating athletes to focus on putting forth their best efforts without the added pressure of team scoring. And coming off of a disappointing dual meet loss to Ohio State last week, Michigan didn’t need any more pressure.

“Most of our season, our meets are non-scoring,” said Michigan coach Fred LaPlante. “I’m looking for guys being competitive in the races that they’re in. So that was our goal. In every event, that guys deal with the competition around them.”

All told, three Michigan athletes, competing against performers from Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Valparaiso and Oakland, were able to capture events for the school: junior multi-event performer Robert Peddlar in the long jump, redshirt senior Sean Pruitt in the shot put, and sophomore sprinter Nicholas Neuman in the 200-meter dash.

Neuman’s performance was particularly electrifying, as he edged out freshman sprinter and teammate Aaron Taylor down the last straightaway by two hundredths of a second. It was his first appearance in the event this season.

“I’ve been asking coach to put me in the 200 for a while now,” Neuman said. “He finally said, ‘Oh, you know what, I’ll put you in this meet.’ I’d say it paid off. I surprised him a little bit, so hopefully I’ll get to run a few more 200s this season.”

Several alumni of the team also came back to compete as unattached athletes. Jeff Porter (2004-07), Adam Harris (2006-2009) and others frequently dominated the competition on Saturday. LaPlante believes their presence was beneficial for the team.

“For those guys to run, and be around, and cheer some of the other guys on the team…it’s great for our program, great for our athletes to have those guys out there,” LaPlante said.

The most inspiring performance of the meet, however, belonged to Michigan student Jerome Singleton. Singleton, who has his right leg amputated below the knee and competes with a prosthetic, is not an official member of the men’s team, but has been training with LaPlante and is “with [them] in spirit.” His time of 7.34 in the 60-meter dash was good enough to break the paralympic world record.

With all of the strong performances just a week after such a difficult loss, the team believes they are making solid gains.

“The loss last week was pretty devastating, so I think everybody picked it up in practice this week and I say we performed a lot better,” Neuman said. “Our performance just hasn’t been what we wanted it to be, but today was a step in the right direction.”

The Wolverines will hit the road for their next three meets, all on 300-meter tracks which LaPlante says will provide opportunities to make better times. But he also warns that the opposition will be more difficult as the season progresses and the Big Ten Championship (Feb. 27-28) approaches.

“There’ll be more people, better people, so that’s what we’re trying to do. Everything is geared now toward preparing for the Big Ten Championship,” he said.