YPSILANTI – The meet was so crowded it was hard tell who was running.
Non-competing athletes clogged the track during races. Between that and the commotion of the crowd, Michigan had to work to keep its focus.
But the Wolverines weren’t easily distracted. The Michigan men’s track and field team posted two NCAA provisional times and seven personal records in two non-scoring meets this weekend. Michigan sent 18 athletes to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Tyson Invitational and 14 athletes to Ypsilanti for the EMU Invitational.
Junior Adam Harris posted an NCAA provisional mark in the 60-meter dash for the fourth time this season. Harris finished fourth in the event with a time of 6.69 seconds, .05 seconds shy of the Michigan record he set in the first meet of the season.
Senior co-captain Lex Williams also posted an NCAA provisional mark in Fayetteville. Williams finished second in the 5,000-meter run with a personal-best time of 13:47.57. It was the second straight weekend Williams posted a provisional time. He did so in the 3,000-meter race at last week’s Meyo Invitational.
Such consistency has been a Wolverine trademark this season. Every weekend Michigan has set personal records, posted provisional times, or broken school records.
“It’s an addictive feeling, so we want to repeat that feeling,” Michigan associate coach Fred LaPlante said. “Our guys work hard at what we do, and we try to take things a step at a time to get better and hopefully be better than the other guys.”
And last weekend, the benefits of the Wolverine’s hard work came in the form of personal records. Two of Michigan’s seven personal records came in the 3,000-meter run at the Tyson Invitational. Redshirt sophomore Sean McNamara finished first in with a time of 8:10:30 and redshirt sophomore Brandon Fellows placed fifth with a time of 8:14:58.
The Tyson Invitational was especially important for Michigan as the NCAA Indoor Championships will be held next month at the same site. Competing at the Tyson Track Center last weekend gave the Wolverines who already have NCAA provisional times a chance to get familiar with the atmosphere.
If Michigan can keep up its current pace, even more Wolverines should be at Tyson in March.
“There is no defense in our sport, so everyone is on offense,” LaPlante said. “You can’t control what the other guys are doing, so you hope you are better than the next guy. We are excited, because as a team we know we are good.”