Feb. 10, 2001

State Collge, PA - The University of Illinois men's track team took to the road this weekend, as the men sent several runners to compete at the USTCA Collegiate Invitational at Penn State, while a group of athletes also competed at the Iowa State Track Classic in Ames, Iowa. Both meets were held over Friday and Saturday.

The men that competed at Penn State ran strong, placing fifth out of 11 teams, despite running only eight individual athletes and two relay teams. Illinois' 63 team points put them in fifth place, while host Penn State won the meet with 134 points and Ohio State was second with 120.50 points. On the banked track at State College, junior Jason Van Swol won the 800m run with an indoor personal best time of 1:49.35. The time was an NCAA provisionally qualifying time and the seventh fastest time in school history. In that race, junior Nick Gow ran a personal best time of 1:51.14, finishing fourth overall.

In the mile run, senior Dan Horyn won in a personal best time of 4:07.95, with sophomore Aaron Wahls placing eighth in a time of 4:17.01. Senior Scott McClennan just missed his personal best time in the 5,000m run, placing second in a time of 14:29.54. In the 3,000m run, junior John Kronforst ran a personal best time of 8:21.40, giving him third place overall and the tenth fastest time in school history. The Distance Medley Relay team placed fifth in a time of 9:57.57.

The sprinters ran well, too, as senior Sherman Armstrong placed second in the 400m dash, running a season's best time of 47.14. Senior Babatunde Ridley placed fourth in the 200m dash, running 21.59. In the 4x400m relay, Illinois placed third in a time of 3:10.94, just missing provisionally qualifying standards.

"(Our performance) should have been called `A Few Good Men,'" Head Coach Gary Wieneke said. "We only ran eight runners and two relays and we took fifth. It was good movement forward for us."

At Iowa State, junior Charles Burton was fourth in the triple jump, leaping 50 feet, 8 inches. Freshman Mark Goebel placed seventh in the long jump with a mark of 24 feet, 1 inch (7.34m), while Burton placed 13th with a leap of 22 feet, 9 3/4 inches. Sophomore Bernard Grady was fifth the shot put with a throw of 59 feet, 1/4 inch, an NCAA provisionally qualifying mark. Junior Josh Harford won his heat of the 400m dash with a personal best time of 48.88.