June 9, 2010
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Championship Central | Meet Schedule | Live Results
EUGENE, Ore. - On a rainy evening at Hayward Field, the Illinois men's track and field squad opened up competition at the NCAA Championships with a pair of semifinal contests. Junior Cody Wisslead competed at nationals for the first time in his career and finished 10th overall in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.61 while the 4x100m relay posted a time of 40.22 and came in 14th at the national meet.
"I was really proud of our guys today," interim head coach Mike Turk said. "They both had pretty good races and competed at a high level. Cody was so close to qualifying, and this is just the beginning of him to going to a higher level. We have a very young team and have almost everyone coming back, so I am very optimistic for what we can do in the future."
Wisslead, who was seeded 15th heading into the meet, recorded the second-best time of his career to earn a fourth-place showing in his heat. The Sciota, Ill., native, missed advancing to the event final by two spots, as the eighth and final qualifying slot was filled by South Florida's David Aristil (50.13).
The foursome of sophomore Andrew Riley, junior Azeez Shogbuyi, freshman Bai Kabba and sophomore Stanley Azie clocked its fourth-fastest time of the year, timing 40.22 and placing sixth in its heat. The Illini squad finished 14th overall, falling short of the top eight that advanced to the event final.
Riley begins individual competition at the NCAA Championships on Thursday at 7:35 p.m. CT with the semifinal of the 110m hurdles. Live results along with a full recap can be found on fightingillini.com while live updates will be made at twitter.com/IlliniTrackXC.
Illinois Wednesday Results at the NCAA Championships
400m Hurdles (Semifinal)
10. Cody Wisslead 50.61
4x100m Relay (Semifinal)
14. Illinois 40.22
(Andrew Riley, Azeez Shogbuyi, Bai Kabba, Stanley Azie)
Illinois Remaining Schedule at the NCAA Championships
(All times Central)
Thursday, June 10
7:35 p.m. 110m Hurdles Semifinal (Andrew Riley)
Saturday, June 12
1:16 p.m. 110m Hurdles Final
