June 10, 2010

Results

EUGENE, Ore. - On Thursday at the NCAA Championships, sophomore Andrew Riley automatically qualified for the 110m hurdles final after placing second in his heat with a near personal-best time of 13.55. The Kingston, Jamaica, native ranked fourth overall in the event at Hayward Field, coming in behind defending champion Ronnie Ash (13.32) of Oklahoma, LSU's Barrett Nugent (13.52) and Nebraska's Lehann Fourie (13.53).

"Andrew ran a fine race," interim head coach Mike Turk said. "His experience and maturity shows, and he has put himself in a great position for the final."

Riley, the Illini's final competitor left at the national meet, easily advanced to the finals for the second straight year, as he nearly matched his career-best mark of 13.53, which he ran earlier this year at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational. Last season, Riley earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish at the national meet in Fayetteville, Ark.

"I battled through some cramps today, but just tried to tough it out to make it through to the final," Riley said. "I just need to maintain my focus over each flight and hopefully can get the job done on Saturday."

Riley will run in the final of the 110m hurdles on Saturday at 1:16 p.m. CT, which will be aired live on CBS. Live results along with a full recap can be found on fightingillini.com while live updates will be made at twitter.com/IlliniTrackXC.

110m Hurdles Semifinal Results at the NCAA Championships
Q/q = qualified for event final

1. Ronnie Ash, Oklahoma - 13.32 Q
2. Barrett Nugent, LSU - 13.52 Q
3. Lehann Fourie, Nebraska - 13.53 Q
4. Andrew Riley, Illinois - 13.55 Q
5. Keiron Stewart, Texas - 13.62 Q
6. Johnny Dutch, South Carolina - 13.70 Q
7. Oscar Spurlock, Southern California - 13.65 q
8. Jeffrey Julmis, Kansas State - 13.69 q

Illinois Remaining Schedule at the NCAA Championships
(All times Central)

Saturday, June 12
1:16 p.m. 110m Hurdles Final (Andrew Riley)