Jan. 15, 2005
Final Stats
Illinois' men's track team kicked off its home indoor meet season today at the UI Armory, hosting Lincoln, Lindenwood and Missouri Baptist in front of 645 fans. The Fighting Illini won six events and had top-three finishers in a number of others.
"I think we did quite well today," head coach Wayne Angel said. "I was looking at the intensity, the competitiveness and the team unity and that's really all I was looking at. The level of meet this was wasn't way up there, but it was enough to give our young kids a chance to compete and for me to see where we're at based on what these guys did over Christmas break."
In the mile, Jason Bill (4:11.22), Jon Houseworth (4:15.64) and Eric Wallor (4:15.64) swept the top three places, a feat duplicated by the Fighting Illini in the 600m and 800m. In the 600m, Tramell Smith won with a time of 1:18.91, Aaron King took second in 1:19.99 and Jeremy Kruidenier placed third in 1:20.04. Senior Tim Hobbs took top honors in the 800m after clocking 1:52.68, followed by Arjun Majumdar in 1:59.23 and Ryan Giuliano in 2:01.74.
Nathan Vadeboncoeur won the 200m in 48.20 while Abe Jones placed second in the 60m hurdles (8.05) and the 200m, clocking 21.85. In the men's 35lb weight throw, senior Nick Byrnes finished second with a toss of 16.16m with former Illini Pete Knaus, the Illinois record holder in the event, winning with a toss of 19.15m.
Eric DiSilvestro won the pole vault, clearing 16'07.25" to set a new career best mark. Taking third in the event were freshman Morgan Ferris and sophomore Justin Kozak who vaulted 15'01.00". In the long jump, freshman Jon Reagan and junior Charley Kurlinkus each cleared 6'08.75" to tie for second place.
In the 3000m, Maciej Sniegorski ran 8:39.07 in his first race as an Illini to take third place.
The Illini capped the day by winning the 4x400m relay with the team of Adrian Walker, Vadeboncoeur, Zach Glavash and Jones posting 3:20.08 for the win.
Freshman Nick Brown placed second in the long jump with a leap of 7.42m in his first meet for the Orange and Blue while Seth Pilkington, also making his Fighitng Illini debut, took second in the 3,000m, running 8:14.59.
Complete results can be accessed at www.fightingillini.com.
Illinois returns to the track next weekend on Friday and Saturday as the hosts of the Central Collegiate Championships.
