Neuman's 200m Win Highlights Day Two of Simmons-Harvey Invitational

Neuman's 200m Win Highlights Day Two of Simmons-Harvey Invitational

Jan. 23, 2010

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (U-M Indoor Track Building)
Event: Simmons-Harvey Invitational (Day 2 of 2)
Score: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sat., Jan. 29-30 -- at Kentucky McCrary Invitational (Lexington, Ky.), 7 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A win in the 200-meter dash from sophomore Nicholas Neuman (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) highlighted the second day of action for the University of Michigan men's track and field team at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational on Saturday (Jan. 23) inside the U-M Indoor Track Building. Michigan got several top-three finishes throughout the day and also saw the return of a group of former standouts, which competed in some races as unattached competitors.

Neumann edged out freshman Aaron Taylor (Rochester Hills, Mich./Adams) down the final straightaway in the 200-meter dash by two-hundredths of a second. Michigan claimed four of the top six spots in that race, as senior Kyle Terpak (Riverview, Mich./Riverview) took fourth and junior Troy Woolfolk (Sugar Land, Texas/Dulles), making his season debut, finished in sixth.

Sophomore Matthew Campbell (Rochester, Mich./Rochester) and redshirt junior Matt Wheeler (Atherton, Calif./Menlo-Atherton) took second and third, respectively, in the 400-meter run and were also a part of the same 4x400-meter relay team, which finished third in the final event Saturday. The Wolverines' other top-three finishers included junior Carl Buchanon (South Bend, Ind./Clay) in the 60-meter hurdles and junior David St. Amant (Livonia, Mich./Churchill) in the 600-meter run. Both placed second.

Former Wolverines Jeff Porter (2004-07) and Adam Harris (2006-09) also returned to action inside the Indoor Track Building on Saturday. Porter, a 2007 NCAA champion in the 60-meter hurdles (indoor), won that same event Saturday, and Harris, a two-time Big Ten Men's Track Athlete of the Year and three-time NCAA All-American, took first in the 60-meter dash. Andre Barnes (2006-09) and Stann Waithe (2004-08) also competed, running on the same 4x400-meter relay team.

Meanwhile, fifth-year senior Lex Williams (Ann Arbor, Mich./Dexter) won the 3,000-meter run as an unattached competitor. Williams has exhausted his indoor eligibility but is slated to return to the Wolverines officially at the start of the outdoor season.

In a moment that brought the announced crowd of 1,032 to its feet, Michigan student and paralympian Jerome Singleton shattered the world record in the 60-meter dash, crossing the finish line with a time of 7.34 in the fifth preliminary heat. Singleton is a T-44 amputee (below the right knee) and his timeshattered the previous world record of 7.78. He had been working with head coach Fred LaPlante during practice for weeks leading up to Saturday's race, and though he did not make the finals, Singleton's time was the fastest in his heat.

Michigan returns to the track next Friday (Jan. 29) for day one of the Kentucky-McCrary Invitational in Lexington, Ky. Competition is slated to begin at 7 p.m. and conclude at noon on Saturday (Jan. 30).

Courtesy Michigan