May 11, 2001

Box Score

Champaign, IL - In his final home meet of his collegiate career, senior Scott McClennan made it a memorable one as Illinois hosted the Illini Twilight meet tonight in front of 605 fans at the UI Outdoor Track Stadium. McClennan won the 3,000 meter run in a time of 8:20.56, a new Illinois school record and personal best. The previous Illini record was 8:22.5 set by Chris Saunders in 1996. Saunders is currently working as a volunteer assistant for the men's team.

"I wasn't really aiming for the record because the 3,000 isn't a race I run very often outdoors," McClennan said. "I had been joking about with Coach Saunders, and now I'll make sure he knows his record is gone. I usually don't have that good of a finishing kick, but I ran really well the last 200 meters and pulled away."

Junior Jason Van Swol won the 800 meter run in a time of 1:50.93, a new season's best. He also ran on Illinois' 4x400 meter relay team that won in a time of 3:15.68. The other members of the relay were Kendall McCroy, Jake Lindley, and Sherman Armstrong.

McCroy placed second in the 400m dash with a season's best 48.08. Armstrong meanwhile placed second in the 400 meter hurdles, running an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 51.12 seconds.

In the pole vault, senior Tom Marchese was second and was the top collegiate placer, vaulting 16 feet, 10-1/4 inches. Also in the field, sophomore Bernard Grady recorded a season's best throw of 56 feet, 9-1/4 inches to finish third in the shot put.

"Scott McClennan took care of business today, running a really nice race," men's Head Coach Gary Wieneke said. "We might have been a little bit sluggish coming off of final exams. Now we need to turn our focus towards the Big Ten meet next weekend."

For the women, the Illini hurdlers were the story on the track once again. Sophomore Perdita Felicien won the 100 meter hurdles, clocking a blazing time of 12.78 seconds (wind: 1.61 m/s), which is the fastest time in the world this year. Felicien already was the world's #1 ranked hurdler, but with her performance tonight lowers her season's best to 12.78 from the 12.92 that she ran just two weeks ago at the Drake Relays. Along with being the world's fastest time this year, it is also a new personal best and an Illinois school record, breaking the previous record of 12.91 seconds that she set as a freshman last season.

"This is absolutely amazing," Felicien said about her record performance. "When I looked up at the scoreboard and saw the time I was shocked. I'm usually pretty composed when I compete, but today I showed a lot of emotion and had to even clap for myself because I was so elated."

But the story did not end with Felicien. Her teammate, freshman Susanna Kallur took Felicien to the wire, placing second in a time of 12.85 seconds. That time is tied for the second fastest in the world this year, moving Kallur right behind Felicien and giving the University of Illinois the world's top two hurdlers in 2001 to date.

In the field, Gia Lewis (Champaign Centennial HS) blew away the Illinois school record and her personal best in the discus by nearly 14 feet, winning the discus competition with a throw of 189 feet, 6 inches. That is an automatic qualifying mark for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and also ranks as the second best throw in the nation this season. Lewis shatters the previous school record of 175 feet, 9 inches set by Laura Mindock in 1996.

Behind Felicien and Susanna Kallur, Jenny Kallur placed third in the 100m hurdles with a season's best time of 13.29 seconds, the tenth fastest time in the NCAA this season, and Camee' Williams was fourth with a provisional time of 13.57. Williams also won the long jump with a jump of 19 feet, 2 inches.

Less than a half hour after her record setting hurdles performance, Felicien won the 100 meter dash in a time of 11.80 seconds, tying her personal best, while teammate Aleisha Latimer was right behind, finishing second (11.81 sec.)

Also in the field, Adeoti Oshinowo set personal bests in two events, the shot put and the hammer. She won the shot put with a throw of 48 feet, 8-1/4 inches and placed third in the hammer with a throw of 154 feet, 5 inches. Oshinowo also took second behind Lewis in the discus with a throw of 154 feet, 8 inches.

"Overall, we had some real nice performances and looked really sharp," women's head coach Gary Winckler said. "Gia did a fantastic job and finally got that school record she's been chasing. Ade set PRs in two events, Camee' was solid in the long jump, and Aleisha Latimer looked as good as she has the last two years in the 100.

"And of course the hurdles was just a great race. I have some indicator workouts that I do this time of year and they really blew it away on Tuesday in practice, so I felt that both Perdita and Susanna were ready to run that fast. It always helps running at home, and I think competing against each other day in and day out has really helped their times."

Both the Illini men and women will compete in the Big Ten Outdoor Championships at Indiana University, next weekend from May 18 through May 20.