March 19, 2004

Illinois' men's track team opens its outdoor season this weekend at the 53rd Annual Texas Southern Relays held at Rice University in Houston, Tex. The Illini are coming off a successful indoor season, which saw them take fourth place at the Big Ten Championships, set numerous personal bests and etch their names into the school record books in a number of events.

Field events will be contested Friday with events on the track beginning Saturday morning and concluding with the 4x400m relay Saturday evening.

The meet kicks off the Illini's spring break trip to Texas and Louisiana. Following this weekend's action, the Fighting Illini will be traveling to Baton Rouge, La. to compete in the LSU Relays March 26-27.

Up-to-date meet results can be found at www.deltatiming.com.

In addition, Illini freshman Trent Hoerr will be competing at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium on Sunday. Hoerr, who is the first Illinois runner to qualify for the U.S. Junior team, did so by virtue of his third place finish at last month's USA Cross Country Championships. Hoerr's race is scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. CST.

Full race results can be found at www.usatf.org.