Often, two athletes viciously grapple for the lead as the event comes down to the wire. With victory nearly within reach, months of relentless training seem to pay off as only one opponent remains. But sometimes, it’s not just any opponent — it’s a teammate.
This past weekend at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, the Michigan men’s track and field team experienced just that. In several events, the Wolverines found themselves battling eachother for first place, forcing them to adjust their mindset. While the meet was non-scoring, Michigan still found itself in a high-intensity atmosphere, naturally feeding off of their each other’s energy. That balance was evident as the Wolverines captured first place in five events overall, and on four occasions, swept the top two spots.
In the first heat of the one-mile, junior Trent McFarland and sophomore Brendan Herger jockeyed for first place. Although Herger led through the latter half, McFarland slingshotted past his teammate in the homestretch, capturing a facility record and personal best of 3:56.41. Herger finished a step behind, notching a personal best of his own and what would have been a facility record at 3:56.62. Powered by each other’s efforts, the athletes’ sub-four-minute miles showed promise for an early-season performance.
“It’s not the same to race against your teammates,” McFarland said. “It’s a little bit of a different mindset that you want to have. I just wanted to set the pace and make sure everyone had a good day.”
The second heat of the one-mile also featured a Michigan athlete taking first, but in a far different fashion. Sophomore Nathan Lopez, a specialist in the 3000-meter and 5000-meter events, finished eight seconds ahead of the pack with a personal best time of 4:02.37. Instead of pacing alongside teammates, Lopez found himself all alone approaching the finish.
“[Closing out] is definitely harder to do alone,” Lopez said. “I just don’t want to have the feeling of finishing and wishing I could have done a little more. I kind of dug in when it hurt most, and pushed to the very, very end.”
Later on in the afternoon, the 800-meter saw the return of top two performances for the Wolverines from graduate student Miles Brown and junior John O’Reilly. Leading the pack through three laps, the pair charged through the homestretch with Brown dipping hard to capture first. Clocking in at 1:48.04, Brown earned a facility record and the third-best time in the NCAA this season. O’Reilly, finishing at 1:48.12, captured the eighth-best time in program history and would have secured a facility record, finishing behind by less than a step.
The same trend of grappling teammates carried into the field as well. In the pole vault, sophomore Neil Howard and senior Cole Sheldon found themselves facing off alongside Michigan State’s Adam Blue. While Blue failed to clear the 5.05-meter bar, Howard and Sheldon made successful clearances on their final attempts. Sheldon couldn’t clear the bar on the subsequent series, but the showdown between the two athletes proves how Michigan feeds off of each other’s drive.
“You come into a (meet), and you’re trying to help each other because we’re teammates,” Wolverines Coach Kevin Sullivan said. “But at some point, you gotta remember it’s a competition too. It was good for us to find some competitive challenges where guys aren’t afraid of taking it from their teammates.”
Even in a smaller-scale meet where the heats were filled with familiar faces, Michigan sustained its competitive nature to the maximum. And if the Wolverines are unafraid to seize victory from their teammates, who knows what they’d do to any opponent.
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