CMU men’s track opens season today

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As typical with every men’s track season, everything leads up to the Mid-American Conference Championship.

And the road to that goal starts at 5 p.m. today at the Jack Skoog Track. Central hosts the Chippewa Open that includes Michigan, Michigan State, Detroit, Northwood, Cornerstone and Ferris State.

“(We) always aim to win the MAC,” said senior sprinter Steve Wezner. “Everything we do is geared toward that.”

Wezner won the 400-meter run and placed third in the 200m dash last year at the Indoor Championships. He also anchored the championship 4x400m relay team.

Central may find itself overlooked, as it was picked to finish third by the MAC’s Preseason rankings – a selection coach Jim Knapp isn’t surprised with.

“That’s where we expected to be,” Knapp said. “We lost a lot of people from last year’s team and we are very young.”

Knapp said he will not have all his athletes performing in the Chippewa Open since it is non-scored. He will use this as a chance to figure out what kind of team he has and where its performance level is.

The team has lost several key ahtletes, including two-time national qualifying pole vaulter Dave Jones, sprinters Johnie Drake and Pierre Vinson and hurdler Nick Stout.

“(We) work hard, but don’t have a lot of talent,” said senior distance runner Jeff Powers. “But these guys work harder than the guys in the past.”

Some key returnees are Powers, senior thrower John Pilling and junior All-MAC middle distance runner Abraham Mach.

Assistant coach Craig Fuller said some of the key meets this season are the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame, which is for individual performances, and the Sykes-Sabock Challenge at Penn State for team competition.

sports@cm-life.com