Feb. 3, 2001

Champaign, IL - The University of Illinois track & field teams hosted the Carle/Health Alliance Illini Classic today. In front of a crowd of 1,036 track fans at the Armory Track, freshman Perdita Felicien broke her own school record in the 60m hurdles, running 8.17 seconds in the prelims, then bettering her mark by posting an 8.16 in the finals. The time is an NCAA automatically qualifying time and a new Armory Record, and is also the fastest collegiate time in the nation this year.

"After the prelims, I tried to not let the time get to my head," Felicien said. "The goal was the 8.17, which is an automatic ticket to nationals. After getting that time, the pressure was off. I think that running on the home track really helped my performances because I train on that track."

The women showed a balanced effort throughout the meet. Freshman Allison Williams won the 600m run with a time of 1:37.24. Sophomore Cecelia Williams won the 3,000m run with a personal best time of 9:51.39. Sophomores Amber Hunt won the 5,000m run, but in reality ran 5,200 meters as all runners in the field ran an extra lap. Freshman Angela Hilgers won the pole vault in a vault of 11 feet, 3 3/4 inches. Sophomore Crystal Riley jumped a personal best of 19 feet, 2 1/2 inches in the long jump, while junior Adeoti Oshinowo won the shot put with a throw of 44 feet, 11 3/4 inches.

"We had a real solid meet today," women's Head Coach Gary Winckler said. "We set a lot of personal bests and competed hard throughout."

The men also showed a balanced effort. In the field events, senior Tom Marchese won the pole vault with an NCAA provisionally qualifying vault of 17 feet, 3 1/2 inches. Marchese's vault was a personal best and the sixth best in school history. Sophomore Bernard Grady won the shot put with a throw of 57 feet, 9 inches, which was also a personal best throw and an NCAA provisionally qualifying mark.

"I felt really explosive today," Grady said. "I wanted to throw further, but getting a personal record is great."

The sprinters continued to run strong, as senior Babatunde Riley won the 60m dash with a time of 6.79 and senior Sherman Armstrong won the 400m dash with a season's best time of 47.98.

The middle-distance athletes also boasted solid performances as junior Jason Van Swol won the 600m run with a time of 1:21.03 and senior Dan Horyn won the 800m run in a time of 1:54.34.

"Again, the team ran competitive," Head Coach Gary Wieneke said. "The team rose above all the coaches' expectations. It's hard to compete at such a high level every week, but this team has a lot of resolve."

Both the Illinois men and women will next compete at the Iowa Sate Track Classic on Feb. 9-10.