Tracksters nab three titles at Simmons

The indoor track season has a lot to do with getting ready for, well, the outdoor track season.

That was the general feeling that permeated the indoor track building Saturday as the Michigan men's track team hosted the unscored Red Simmons Invitational.

Competitors threw javelins down in disgust, kicked sand around after disappointing long jumps, and listlessly jogged around as if they were waiting for races that would never come. And judges yelled "foul" almost as consistently as sprinters ran into each other in warmups.

Athletes from Michigan, Notre Dame, Ball State, Toledo, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan all had to deal with the rigors of the beginning stages of what will be a long season.

DHANI JONES/Daily Although the Red Simmons Invitational was unscored, the Michigan men's track team used the event as a chance to get ready for the upcoming season.

"Indoor meets are not super as far as times go," Michigan assistant coach Ron Warhurst said. "You just hope that you can progress a little each week, especially in time for Big Tens."

"We go from January to June, so it's a long haul," Warhurst added.

The event was unscored, which means that there were no final team standings or overall winner - a defining characteristic of early season meets, which are intended to build athletes' strength for the critical late season indoor and outdoor events.

This isn't to say that there wasn't good news for Michigan regarding Saturday's results. Three Wolverines took home individual titles from the invitational - Patrick Johansson, Josh Sellers and freshman Ike Okenwa won events.

Johansson, from Sweden, started the Wolverines' day off with a victory in the 35-pound weight throw. His throw of 56 feet, 8 3/4 inches was almost two feet further than the second-place finisher, Jay Hofner of Notre Dame.

Sellers won the 600-meter run for the second time this season. His time of 1:21.71 was only .14 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, Notre Dame's Terry Wray.

Lastly, Okenwa beat out his closest competitor and teammate, Steve Jenkins, by .15 seconds with a winning time of 6.84.

Warhurst said how these early meets have allowed freshmen such as Okenwa, along with sprinters Jeremy Scherder and Oded Padan, to improve and assert themselves as new team members.

Michigan will again be a host this coming weekend, this time with the Michigan Intercollegiate.

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