Dec. 11, 2004

Illinois' men's track team began its season at the Saluki Fast Start Invite, winning four of the six events in which it had runners entered. The Illini took just nine runners and did not compete in any field events.

Nathan Vadeboncoeur, Tramell Smith, Jeremy Kruidenier and the 4x400m relay team took home victories. Vadeboncoeur ran 48.08s to take the 400m title,while Kruidenier placed first in the 800m with a time of 1:56.60.

Smith won the 600m in 1:18.76, leading four Illinois finishers in the top six. Sophomore Zach Glavash placed second in 1:19.20, followed by Aaron King in fourth in 1:21.63 and Kenny Johnson in sixth with a time of 1:23.04.

The Fighting Illini 4x400m relay team of Adrian Walker, Glavash, Smith and Vadeboncoeur clocked 3:14.04 to win the event.

In the sprints, Andre English took second in the 200m, running 22.13s and freshman Pierre Bush, making his collegiate debut, ran sixth in 22.82s. Bush also ran the 55m dash, placing fifth after posting a time of 6.46s in both the prelims and the finals. Anthony Young also competed in the 55m, running 6.57s in the prelims and placing 12th in the finals in 6.89s.

Illinois is back in action Jan. 8, 2005 at the Hoosier Open in Bloomington, Ind.