The men's track and field team will travel to Columbus, Ohio, today to compete against Ohio State, Tennessee and Pitt in a highly competitive meet tomorrow.

Coach Harry Groves said the competition at this meet is always tough and team finishes cannot be predicted. Each year the difference between the first place team's score and the last place team's score is only about six points.

"You can fall one way or the other, depending on events you hit and don't hit," Groves said.

Each of the three teams the Lions are up against are top teams in their respective conferences. "It's a good place to go if you want to get into a track meet," Groves said.

"It will be a good look to the future because Ohio State is a Big 10 school," said Lion Greg Large, who will run the 400-meter and 1,600 relay. "This meet should bring out the best in everybody that's going."

Tomorrow's meet will be team-oriented; the Lions compete in mostly invitational meets throughout the season where there can be hundreds or even thousands of athletes.

Large said at most invitationals it's hard to keep track of who's competing where and when, but tomorrow will be like a basic track meet where the team can watch the entire meet and help motivate one another.

Strong performances could come from Steve Brown in the 5,000-meter run, Aidan O'Reilly in the 1,600, Mark Anderson in the 800, Marshall Cannon in the sprints and long jump and C.J. Hunter and Phil Caraher in the shot put.

Tri-captains Doug Walter, Barry Walsh and Large should fair well as well as freshmen Mason Ternay and Greg Rogers in the pole vault and hurdles, respectively.

Ohio State will be strong in the horizontal jumps, Groves said. Tennessee probably has the best balance between sprints, hurdles, jumps and distance and Pitt has good middle-distance and hurdle runners.