Wisslead Earns First Career NCAA Championships Bid

Men's Track & Field May 28, 2010

Wisslead Earns First Career NCAA Championships Bid

May 28, 2010

AUSTIN, Texas - On Friday at the NCAA West Preliminary Round, the Orange and Blue hurdlers turned in stellar performances, as junior Cody Wisslead punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships in the 400m hurdles and sophomore Andrew Riley clocked the fastest 110m hurdles time of the day. Sophomore Stanley Azie also posted a solid performance in the 200m, advancing to Saturday's quarterfinal at the Mike A. Myers Track Stadium.

"We had a good day overall," interim head coach Mike Turk said. "We have a handful of athletes poised to join Cody at nationals with good efforts tomorrow."

Wisslead earned his first career trip to nationals after running a personal best for the second straight day and earning the automatic bid by placing third in his heat. His time of 50.33 was ninth-fastest among the final 12 competitors headed to Eugene and ranks No. 5 on the UI all-time list. The Sciota, Ill., native will next run on Wednesday, June 9 in the semifinals of the 400m hurdles at Hayward Field, where he found success earlier this year with the event victory at Oregon's Pepsi Invitational. He will be the first Illini 400m hurdler to compete at nationals since Abe Jones in 2006.

"Cody had a sweet race," Turk said. "He is really on a roll and will return to Eugene in great position at the NCAA Championships."

In the 110m hurdles, Riley advanced to the quarterfinal with the top time (13.58) of the afternoon, which ranks second-fastest in school history behind only his school record time of 13.53, set earlier this year at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational. The Kingston, Jamaica native came into the meet ranked third in the region but ran faster than Oklahoma's Ronnie Ash and Nebraska's Lehann Fourie, who rank one-two in the nation. Fourie placed fourth overall at 13.79 while Ash was fifth-fastest at 13.86.

"Riley made that look easy today," Turk said. "He is well prepared and just needs to keep his focus tomorrow."

Azie moved on to Saturday's 200m quarterfinal after taking second in his heat with a time of 21.09. His mark ranks 11th among the 24 competitors scheduled to compete on Saturday night.

"It was a great run by Stan," Turk said. "He ran a complete race and finished well. He has a good chance to qualify tomorrow."

In the high jump, senior Greg Shroka wrapped up his career as an Illini by tying for 20th after clearing a mark of 6 feet, nine inches (2.06m). Shroka missed out on making a return trip to nationals, where he picked up All-America honors last season.

"While I am disappointed for Greg, he is a real success story," Turk said. "What a great career he has had. He fought so hard, but the lack of quality practices because of his injuries finally caught up to him. Greg will long be remembered for his spirit, leadership and competitiveness."

Junior Matt McHugh recorded a mark of 192 feet, seven inches (58.69m) and finished 25th overall in the preliminaries of the hammer throw to close out his season.

"Matt has had a great season," Turk said. "Although his technique was sound today, he just couldn't connect on a big throw."

Illinois concludes competition at the NCAA West Preliminary Round on Saturday, with the triple jump and the quarterfinals in the 110m hurdles, 200m and both relays. Live results along with a full recap can be found on fightingillini.com while live updates will be made at twitter.com/IlliniTrackXC.

Illinois Friday Results at NCAA West Preliminary Round
Q = qualified for Saturday's quarterfinal
* advances to NCAA Championships in Oregon

400m Hurdles (Quarterfinal)
9. Cody Wisslead 50.33*

110m Hurdles (First Round)
1. Andrew Riley 13.58 Q

200m (First Round)
11. Stanley Azie 21.09 Q

High Jump (Prelims)
T-20. Greg Shroka 6-9 (2.06m)

Hammer Throw (Prelims)
25. Matt McHugh 192-7 (58.69m)

3,000m Steeplechase (Quarterfinal)
DNF Kyle Engnell

Illinois Remaining Schedule at the NCAA West Preliminary Round
(All times Central)

Saturday, May 29
6 p.m. Triple Jump (Oz Lifshitz)
6:15 p.m. 4x100m Relay Quarterfinal (Andrew Riley, Azeez Shogbuyi, Bai Kabba, Stanley Azie)
7:20 p.m. 110m Hurdles Quarterfinal (Andrew Riley)
7:50 p.m. 200m Quarterfinal (Stanley Azie)
9:45 p.m. 4x400m Relay Quarterfinal (Shane Daniel, Bai Kabba, Malcolm Taylor, Dan Jones)