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Tate: Don't overlook track team

Mike Turk feels like the younger brother trying to play with the older boys on the sandlot.

Turk is coaching a strong Illini men’s track and field team — ranked 17th ­in the latest outdoor poll — but a new bar has been set on campus, and it’s extremely high.

Three men’s teams are ranked in the Top 10 of their respective sport polls — golf at No. 2, tennis at No. 4 and baseball as high as No. 6 — and Mike Small’s golfers and Brad Dancer’s netters already own Big Ten titles.

“We got game,” Turk said with a smile, “and we’re pretty good, but we’re fighting to keep pace.