March 31, 2007

Final Stats

The Illinois men's track and field team concluded competition this weekend, where they split up, with a small group that traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., to participate in the 33rd annual Stanford Invitational. The rest of the team went to West Lafayette, Ind., to compete in the Mike Poehlein Invitational hosted by Purdue.

Assistant coach Wendel McRaven traveled with a small distance squad to Stanford University, where junior Trent Hoerr ran an impressive 28:55 in the 10,000m, which places him No. 2 on the all-time Illinois Outdoor top 10 list. Hoerr's time was good enough to qualify him for NCAA Outdoor Championships.

"I am really pleased with Trent," McRaven said. "This is what we've been aiming for, and I'm impressed with the way he performed. I am also very excited about how the freshmen have been running so far. They are showing a lot of potential for a great future."

Also fairing well on the day was sophomore Greg Shroka who won high jump with a NCAA Regional Qualifying mark of 6'10.75". Senior James Keller won pole vault with a 16'00.00", while senior Adrian Walker took home the 400m hurdles title with a 52.04. Senior Bryan Pratt won the 110m hurdles with a 14.46, as well as the 100m with a 11.42.

"Individually and collectively as a team we are finally starting to raise the level of our performances in preparation for the final thrust into the championship phase of our season," head coach Wayne Angel said. "Things are continuing to look very positive and I am very pleased."

The Illini return to action to when they travel to Charleston, Ill. to compete in the Neil Moore Multis on April 5-6.