Jan. 15, 2000

Meet Results

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois men's and women's track and field teams opened up the 2000 indoor season by hosting the Illinois Invitational at the Armory Track today. The Illini won the women's meet with 133 team points, besting second place Indiana State by seven points. Tennesssee-Martin was third with 46 points.

The Illini were paced by the sprint corp as senior Kerry Ann Richards and junior Aleisha Latimer both ran 7.43 seconds to capture the top two spots in the 60m dash. The mark has provisionally qualifed both for the 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships.

"If you look at athletes that are going to represent Illinois in the national scene, then you have to look at Kerrry Ann Richards and Aleisha Latimer ," head coach Gary Winckler said. "They bring a lot of experience. That's going to be an area of strenght for us."

In the field, senior Tisha Ponder won both the long jump and triple jump, while freshman Crystal Riley placed second in both horizontal jumps. Riley also managed a first place effort in the 60m hurdles, winning in 8.69 seconds.

Winckler's freshmen also performed well in the middle distance events. Lyndsey Dunnavan won the 800-meter run and Cecelia Williams won the 3000-meter run.

While the men's meet did not keep team scores, there were several outstanding individual performances. Junior Sherman Armstrong placed second in the 60m hurdles, posting a time of 7.82 seconds. With that mark, Armstrong broke his previous school record of 7.88 and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Armstrong also anchored the victorious 4x400-meter relay team and placed second behind senior teammate Babatunde Ridley in the 200m dash. Ridley was a double winner, taking the 60 meter title as well.

"That was a really great start for Sherman," head coach Gary Wieneke said. "I was very pleased with his performance."

The distance squad also shined for the Illini, winning the distance medley relay in 10:14.52. Senior Jon Russell led a sweep of the top four spots in the 3000-meter run.

In the field events, sophomore Charles Burton won both the long jump and the triple jump, while sophomore Kyle Kopatz won the high jump with a mark of 6'10.25''.