The Fighting Illini finished the first day of competition at the Big Ten championships in sixth place with a score of 21. However, only eight points separate the Fighting Illini from Wisconsin, who leads with a score of 29 at the end of day one.
"Today was a solid day," said head coach Wayne Angel. "Some areas performed better than others but overall it is still very close and I am pleased.
After running the fastest time in the 60-meter dash to advance past the trials, freshman Dominique Worsley secured a spot in the final race with a time of 6.77 in the semifinal race. Worsley also advanced to the finals of the 200-meter dash after running a time of 21.55 and winning his heat in the trials.
"Dominique will help us make changes in the score," said Angel. "He had an outstanding race in the 60-meter and a very controlled race in the 200-meter that will put him in the best lane in the finals."
Junior Nathan Vadeboncouer and senior Adrian Walker will compete in the finals of the 400-meter dash for the Fighting Illini. Each athlete placed first in his heat, Vadeboncouer with a time of 48.70 and Walker with a time of 49.30.
Illinois advanced two athletes to the finals of the 60-meter hurdle race. Seniors Bryan Pratt and Abe Jones both qualified for the finals with times of 8.06 and 8.08, respectively.
Senior Tramell Smith, who was seeded with the fastest 600-meter time in the Big Ten, advanced to the finals of the 600-meter along with junior Jeremy Kruidenier. Smith (1:20.81) and Kruidenier (1:19.93) each placed first in his respective heat.
"We're looking for big things out of Tramell tomorrow," said Angel.
In the 800-meters, senior Tim Hobbs qualified for the finals with a time of 1:52.25. Hobbs' time was only one-hundredth of a second off of the lead time.
In the field, senior Eric Disilvestro and sophomore John Adamczyk scored for Illinois. In the pole vault, DiSilvestro took second with a vault of 5.15m (16'10.75") and Adamczyk vaulted a personal best of 5.05m (16'06.75") to place fifth.
"Eric and John performed very well today," said Angel. "They did a great job."
Sophomore Nick Brown also contributed to the Illinois score by placing eighth in the long jump with a 7.24m (23'09.00") leap.
The Fighting Illini finished the day strong, placing second in the distance medley relay with a time of 9:48.32. Illinois fell behind early on, but a fast split by Tramell Smith managed to bring the Fighting Illini back to a second-place finish.
"This is going to come down to the team that wants it the most and Illinois has to see how much they want it," said Angel. "The guys need to figure out what they need to do and we hope for the best."
The Fighting Illini resume competition at 10:20 a.m. tomorrow on the final day of the Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, Iowa.
