Men's track hits road for invite

This weekend the Michigan men's track and field team leaves the friendly confines of Ann Arbor for the first time all year as they head to Notre Dame to compete in the Meyo Invitational.

With all four meets this season pitting Michigan against mostly in-state competition, the Meyo offers the Wolverines their first look at national competition. Alabama, Illinois State, and host Notre Dame will be competing.

It also offers the team its only chance to run on an oversized track, which should drop times significantly.

Field events are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. with running events slated to begin three hours later.

Michigan enters the weekend with a good deal of momentum coming from its last two performances. They won the Red Simmons Invitational two weeks ago and finished second to a strong Eastern Michigan team last weekend in the Michigan Intercollegiate.

A distinct pattern emerged from those meets - a heavy reliance on the spectacular performances of freshmen. Is it reasonable to expect a drop-off in performance since this is the freshman class' first meet on the road?

"I don't foresee any problems," said head coach Jack Harvey said. "We have a great freshman class. They've all been really good leaders and I'm very pleased with them."

Freshman sprinter Ike Okenwa feels the same way. I'm not nervous to go on the road. Most of us are really excited to go and see some competition from around the nation."

Okenwa's confidence certainly is backed up by his recent performances. Last Saturday, he won his second consecutive 60-meter.

This weekend, Ike will face Notre Dame's Chris Cochran and Alabama's Jeremy Taylor in the 200. Cochran and Taylor are coming off victories themselves and should offer Okenwa a tough race.

Okenwa is not the only freshman who won his event Saturday and expects to face much stiffer competition this weekend. Jeremy Schneider and Oded Padan have a pair of Fighting Irish hoping to crash their coming-out parties.

Schneider, who won the 600, gets his first real taste of national competition as he goes up against senior all-

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