When track and field’s championship season rolls around, teams need to be at peak physical performance and mental focus in order to succeed.

For the Michigan track and field team this weekend at the Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio, however, this was not the case. Hampered by injuries, the Wolverines performed below their standard, finishing 10th overall as a team with 36 points. Nebraska won the meet with 131.5 points

On day two of competition, fifth-year senior Matthew Campbell suffered a season-ending injury to his Achilles tendon during the preliminary heats of the 200-meter dash. As a result, Michigan’s lineup for the 4x100-meter relay, in which Campbell plays an important role, had to be reworked for the next day. Freshman Antonio Whitfield took Campbell’s place and helped the team to a fifth-place finish, along with redshirt freshman Codie Nolan, senior Aaron Taylor and junior Justin Clarke.

Despite the Wolverines’ struggle to succeed as a team, there were several standout individual performances that can help ease the pain from the weekend. One of them came from fifth-year senior Kurt Reichenbach, who placed third and set a new Michigan record in the Decathlon with 7,412 points. Sitting in eighth place after the first five events, Reichenbach overcame weather delays and used a strong performance in the javelin throw on day two to propel himself to the podium.

“The events on day one emphasize power and strength, meaning a lot of the young guys will do really well,” said Reichenbach. “A lot more skill and technique is required on day two, and my experience with these events is what gave me confidence.”

Another Wolverine with an impressive performance was junior Ali Arastu, who placed second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.90 seconds. Just missing first place by a tenth of a second, his strong showing is a continuation of the consistent success this season for Michigan.

“I’ve been battling injuries for most of the season, so I definitely thank my trainers for keeping me healthy,” said Arastu. “I headed into the meet this weekend with an average time, but I’m happy I ended up with a better one in the final.”

Other notable point-scoring performances included sophomore Cody Riffle’s fourth-place finish in the shot put and redshirt junior Ethan Dennis’s third-place finish in the hammer throw.

Big Ten competition is among the toughest in the country, to the likes of which the Wolverines have faced all year. This weekend, however, Michigan could not overcome the challenge and adversity thrown at it as effectively as they are used to doing.

“The numbers in the end speak for themselves, so it was disappointing,” said coach Fred LaPlante. “There are a lot of things that happened this weekend that didn’t go our way, but we can’t make excuses.”

For most of the athletes on the Michigan team, their season is over. The duty of bouncing back from this weekend’s struggles will lie on the athletes selected to compete in regional and national competition in the next coming weeks.

“The war never ends,” said LaPlante. “We’ll win some battles and lose some battles. The guys that are moving forward in a couple weeks will learn from this and go on strong to the next one.”