The Michigan men's track and field team will be hangin' with the Lion and the Tin Man this weekend after it follows the yellow brick road to Kansas.
The Wolverines will compete in the 72nd annual Kansas Relays, one of the premier track meets in the country.
The Kansas Relays has gained the reputation of showcasing some of the best athletes in the country year in and year out.
In the early days of the Relays, some of the top names in college sports refereed the event, including Dr. James Naismith, the "father" of basketball; and Adolph Rupp, thanks to Dean Smith, the second-winningest coach in basketball history. Notre Dame's famous football coach Knute Rockne and famed Michigan football coach Fielding Yost also appeared.
The Kansas Relays have also joined the ranks of other major college sports by tagging on a sponsor. Last year, the Kansas Relays welcomed Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation as the title sponsor. Columbia is the nation's largest provider of healthcare services.
The reason The Kansas Relays wanted to bring a title sponsor was to boost its image as a prestigious event.
As a result, The Columbia Kansas Relays, as it is now called, will be hosting its largest field in recent memory. This year's meet has 3,100 entries, including athletes at the college, high school and club levels.
The competition includes 180 high schools, 50 colleges and 14 track clubs. The meet has attracted several midwest schools such as Nebraska, Kansas State, Missouri and Tulsa. The meet will also welcome two top-25 schools in No. 13 Michigan and No. 21 Eastern Michigan.
The event has attracted some of the best athletes in the world. The most competitive event of the meet will be the mens 400-meter hurdles, featuring four NCAA champions, two of them Olympians.
1996 Olympic 400-meter hurdles bronze medalist Calvin Davis headlines the group. Davis was ranked 4th in the world in the 400 hurdles last year.
Michigan senior Neil Garnder, an Olympian for Jamaica, is the defending NCAA 400-meter hurdles champion. Gardner has also won the 400 hurdles in each of his past three meets. He is also the Kansas Relays 1996 winner in the 110-meter hurdles.
The favorite to win this year's NCAA outdoor 400 hurdles, Northern Iowa's Joey Woody, will also be competing. Woody, who has already qualified for the NCAAs with a time of 49.38, is the 1996 Kansas Relays' 400 hurdles champion.
Other competitors include dark-horse candidate Zambias Samuel Matete, whose time of 47.10 in 1991 ranks third on the all-time world list. Also, 1994 NCAA 400 hurdles champion Octavius Terry and 1996 Division II champion Dinsdale Morgan round out the field.
Even though the Wolverines are the highest ranked team competing in the event, the meet will be anything but a stroll through the park with Toto.
The caliber of the competition is too tough for the Wolverines to walk over the field.
For Michigan to come back home with some victories, the Wolverines will have to borrow the Lion's courage and the Tin Man's heart for a couple of days.