Feb. 27, 2010

Results

MINNEAPOLIS - The Illinois men's track and field team wrapped up day one of the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Saturday, with six Illini qualifying for event finals at Minnesota's University Fieldhouse. Sophomore Andrew Riley scored three points for the Illini in the long jump and qualified for a pair of event finals after running the fastest 60m hurdles time and second-fastest mark in the 60m dash.

"Like many young teams, we had our ups and downs today, but we are going to continue press forward," interim head coach Mike Turk. "We have some big points out on the track after qualifying six to event finals tomorrow."

Riley ran a provisional qualifying time of 7.87 in the 60m hurdles and is the favorite in tomorrow's final. The Kingston, Jamaica native also ran a 6.81 in the 60m dash to qualify along with junior Stanley Azie, who placed fifth in preliminaries with a personal-best time of 6.84. In the long jump, Riley placed sixth overall with a bound of 23-0 ½ (7.02m) after only competing in the preliminaries of the event.

"I gave Andrew some options, and he wanted to do the long jump to help the team," Turk said. "I was concerned with him having too full of a plate with his other events, so we made a compromise and just had him jump in the prelims."

A pair of Illini qualified for event finals in the 400m, as juniors Shane Daniel (49.96) and Dan Jones (49.78) advanced after placing fourth and sixth, respectively in the preliminaries.

"Shane (Daniel) ran one of the smartest and most tactical races I've seen one of our 400m guys run in a long time," Turk said. "I also was really pleased with Dan Jones, who won his heat and qualified for the finals."

In the 600m, senior Scott Phelps qualified for the finals with a time of 1:19.57, while freshman Malcolm Taylor (1:20.20) ran a personal best and placed 13th.

"It was great to see senior Scott Phelps qualify in the 600m," Turk said. "He has a chance to do something tomorrow and score some pretty good points, so it was just outstanding to see that come together for him."

Senior Brian Beaird (1:52.92), who finished 11th in the 800m, just missed qualifying for the event final. In the day's other event finals, junior Dan Kremske placed 13th in the 3,000m with a time of 8:25.34, while the Illini distance medley relay (10:20.97) placed 10th and junior Alex Baldwin was 14th in the pole vault.

The Big Ten Indoor Championships conclude tomorrow with the heptathlon resuming at 9:20 a.m. CT. Running finals begin at noon, with the final event of the championships (4x400m relay) scheduled to start at 2:25 p.m. Live stats are available throughout the meet at fightingillini.com.

Illinois Saturday Results at Big Ten Indoor Championships
Q = qualified for Sunday event final

Long Jump (FINAL)
6. Andrew Riley 23-0 ½ (7.02m); 3 team points
17. Roger Jones 21-7 ¼ (6.58m)

3,000m (FINAL)
13. Dan Kremske 8:25.34

Distance Medley Relay (FINAL)
10. Illinois 10:20.97
(Murray, Kabba, Farnsworth, Engnell)

Pole Vault (FINAL)
14. Alex Baldwin 15-7 (4.75m)

60m (Preliminaries)
2. Andrew Riley 6.81 Q
5. Stanley Azie 6.84 q
12. Josh Zinzer 6.96

200m (Preliminaries)
14. Stanley Azie 22.24
15. Dan Jones 22.25
20. Josh Zinzer 22.47
26. Boyea Lockett 23.47

400m (Preliminaries)
4. Shane Daniel 48.96 Q
6. Dan Jones 49.78 Q
16. Bai Kabba 49.84

600m (Preliminaries)
9. Scott Phelps 1:19.57 q
13. Malcolm Taylor 1:20.20

800m (Preliminaries)
11. Brian Beaird 1:52.92

Mile (Preliminaries)
14. Mike Murray 4:10.88
16. Graham Farnsworth 4:13.02
17. Kyle Engnell 4:13.16

60m Hurdles (Preliminaries)
1. Andrew Riley 7.87 Q

Big Ten Men's Indoor Championships Team Standings (Through five events)
1. Minnesota 49.50
2. Ohio State 40.50
3. Purdue 31
4. Michigan 19
5. Wisconsin 15
6. Penn State 14
7. Indiana 9
8. Iowa 7
9. Michigan State 7
10. ILLINOIS 3