April 10, 2010

Results

EUGENE, Ore. - The Illinois men's track and field team took a step forward on Saturday with a solid performance at the Pepsi Invitational, hosted by Oregon at Hayward Field. Sophomore Kyle Engnell shattered his personal best in his 3,000m steeplechase victory, winning the race by nearly 17 seconds with a time of 9:00.76, while junior Cody Wisslead took home the 400m hurdles title with a time of 52.45. As a team, the Illini placed fourth with 109 points in front of Missouri (103), but behind meet champion No. 3 Oregon (186), runner-up No. 2 Texas A&M (151) and Washington (132).

"We had a good meet today, and took a big step forward as a program," interim head coach Mike Turk said. "It was an outstanding atmosphere at Hayward Field with over 5,000 energetic fans in the crowd, which brought out the best in our guys. It was a thrill to see Engnell and Wisslead take a victory lap with everyone cheering for them after their great performances."

In the 4x100m relay, the Orange and Blue quartet of sophomore Andrew Riley, senior Azeez Shogbuyi Shogbuyi, freshman Josh Zinzer and sophomore Stanley Azie grabbed second place with a time of 40.24, just behind the event winner Texas A&M (39.78). The Illini's time was four-tenths of a second faster than the mark run at last year's Big Ten Outdoor Championships (40.63).

"Our 4x100m relay ran really well," Turk said. "We ran faster than we did at last year's Big Ten meet, so I am really pleased with that, but there is still a lot of room for improvement as these guys continue to run together."

Two distance runners scored for the Illini in the 5,000m, as sophomore Colin Mickow smashed his personal best by 24 seconds to take third with a time of 14:08.86 and junior Dan Kremske ran a personal-best time of 14:31.23 to place seventh. Sophomore Hunter Mickow also reset his personal best with a mark of 14:39.24 and just missed scoring with a ninth-place finish.

Juniors Casey Fonnesbeck and Matt McHugh turned in a solid showings in their respective throwing events, with Fonnesbeck earning the runner-up spot in the shot put with a toss of 55-7 (16.94m) and McHugh taking third in the hammer throw with a mark of 198-8 (60.56m).

Senior Greg Shroka made his outdoor debut in the high jump, notching a third-place finish with a leap of 6-8 (2.03m), while junior Oz Lifshitz turned in a second-place showing in the triple jump with a bound of 48-9 (14.68m).

Illinois' three 100m and 400m runners finished one after another in their respective races. Riley finished fourth in the 100m with a time of 10.57 followed by Azie (10.68) in fifth and Shogbuyi (10.68) in sixth. In the 400m, freshman Bai Kabba (48.20) led the way in sixth while juniors Dan Jones (48.39) and Shane Daniel (48.76) were seventh and eighth, respectively.

In the 200m, Azie placed fourth in the 200m with a time of 21.66 while Zinzer timed 22.21 in seventh. The 4x400m relay of Daniel, Kabba, freshman Malcolm Taylor and Jones finished fourth with a time of 3:10.81. In the 1,500m, freshman Graham Farnsworth placed fourth at 3:49.76 while senior Mike Murray came in sixth at 3:50.00. Three Illini ran the 800m in seniors Brian Beaird (1:52.88) and Scott Phelps (1:53.24) and Taylor (1:55.16).

In the pole vault, freshman Josh Hodur came in seventh with a height of 15-7 ¼ (4.76m), and junior Alex Baldwin was eighth at 15-1 ½ (4.61m). Shogbuyi was eighth in the long jump with a leap of 20-9 ¾ (6.34m).

Next week, Illinois will head to Iowa City for a dual meet against the Hawkeyes on Saturday, April 17.