April 2, 2002

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After enjoying successful weekends at the Florida Relays and the UTEP Springtime Classic, the Illinois men's and women's track and field teams return to action this weekend when the men head to Clemson, S.C., to take part in the Clemson Invitational and the women head back to the state of Texas to compete in the nationally-renown Texas Relays.

On the women's side, the Texas Relays is a four-day event featuring the nation's top track and field programs. Top teams from the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Big East and PAC-10 will be represented as Illinois looks to prepare for a Big Ten championships run.

"This field is the best we will see until we get to nationals, in fact it probably has nearly everyone we will see at nationals especially in the hurdles," head coach Gary Winckler said. "I think everyone from the 60m-hurdle race at nationals will be racing this weekend and it will be tough to qualify for the finals in the race. Overall, I think we are ready. We've only been outside one day, so from that standpoint, we're not as ready as I would like to be, but we'll just have to go compete."

While the Illini will boast talented individuals in nearly every event, the featured event might by the 100m hurdles, where Perdita Felicien, Susanna Kallur and Jenny Kallur will make their 2002 debut after winning All-America honors in the event a year ago. While the three hurdlers returned from last season's NCAA Outdoor Championships with the hardware, it's another Illinois hurdler, Camee' Williams, who is running well and currently owns the nation's fourth-fastest time in the event.

"Camee' is someone I think will set a pretty big personal best this season," Winckler said. "She was running well at the end of the indoor season and she opened up well last week. We put a lot of stock in the Texas Relays from a qualifying standpoint because it's a good track and we usually get favorable weather conditions. This is a big weekend for our sprinters and jumpers."

Other Illini athletes to keep your eye on are sprinter Chequetta Bearfield, triple jumper Nicole Whitman and hammer thrower Marie Hilmersson.

Bearfield open her senior season in spectacular fashion by running away with the 100m dash title at the UTEP Springtime Classic in a time of 11.71 seconds. Nicole Whitman also opened the season with a victory, winning the triple jump with a personal-best leap of 42'02.00", which was an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark for the sophomore and the second-best performance in school history in the event. Like Whitman, Hilmersson, a freshman from Froui, Sweden, opened the outdoor campaign with an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark 188'08.00" in the hammer throw. That distance also shattered the school record in the event and gives the newcomer the top throw in the Big Ten Conference and eighth-best toss in the country.

Just like with the women's team Gary Wieneke and his men's squad will face some strong competition as they head to South Carolina for the Clemson Invitational.

The Clemson Invite is a one-day meet with Illinois taking on Clemson, Syracuse, Purdue and Virginia Tech.

So far this season, the Illinois men have shown a competitive spirit as they have performed well in each meet in 2002. From two weekends ago at Southern Illinois to last weekend at Florida, the Illini have scored in nearly every event they have entered and have gotten a number of personal-best performances already this season.

"I think we have shown considerable team improvement already," head coach Gary Wieneke said. "We have been competitive in each of our meets and we are having guys come through and score for us. One thing I have noticed about this team is that we have competitors. They go out and give it all they have and they have done it two weeks in-a-row."

While Illinois has gotten balanced efforts from its young and experience athletes, one Illini who appears to be returning to form is Jason Van Swol. After an up-and-down indoor season, Van Swol has been exhibiting the performances that made him a five time Big Ten champion in the 800m. Last week at the Florida Relay, the Elmhurst, Ill., native spurred the Illinois charge in the 4x800m relay leading the team from the middle of the pack to a second-place finish.

"Without question that was Jason's best meet for us this year," Wieneke said. "He's running well right now, but he was running better heading into the Big Ten Indoor Championships."

Another Illini running well is junior John Kronforst. Kronforst, who is in his first full season competing in the 3,000m steeplechase, has seen marked improvement through just two meets and continues to improve at practice.

"John has made a major improvement in a race that doesn't always come natural to distance runners," Wieneke said. "It takes a special runner to run that race and John has the mentality for it. You have to be aggressive and fearless and John is both of those things. This is a race where you can improve in bunches if you want to and John wants to."

###GO ILLINI###