Feb. 12, 2005

Illinois' men's track team completed its weekend competition at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. and the Cyclone Classic in Ames, Iowa. At the Cyclone Classic, sophomore Zach Glavash automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 800m with a time less than a second off the school record.

Glavash led the Illini's strong 800m group which had six runners set career bests. Leading the way was Glavash who's time of 1:47.79 is second on Illinois' all-time list and was less than a second off the school record of 1:46.96, set by Bobby True in 1999. Glavash placed third in the race. Also running personal bests were Aaron King (1:49.54), Jeremy Kruidenier (1:50.44), Tim Hobbs (1:51.90), Ryan Giuliano (1:55.40) and Brian Brodeur (1:57.30).

"Overall, our guys battled hard and did a great job," head coach Wayne Angel said. "We rose to the occasion and are in a great position for Big Ten's in two weeks. We'll give them the week off next week and get ready for the Big Ten meet."

The Fighting Illini had two men provisionally qualify in the 400m as Nathan Vadeboncoeur and Abe Jones ran personal bests. Vadeboncoeur moved to sixth on the Illini's career list with his time of 46.98 while Jones stands at No. 8 on the list after clocking 47.07.

In the 4x400m the Illini team of Jones, Vadeboncoeur, Tramell Smith and Adrian Walker ran the second best time in school history at 3:08.19, bettering their best time by .02 seconds. The Orange and Blue finished third in the race.

Jon Houseworth who set a personal best in the mile, running 4:10 while Andre English ran a season best time of 8.04 in the 60m hurdles and Maceij Sniegorski clocked 8:24 in the 3,000m which was a season best as well.

At the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., two Illini distance runners, Seth Pilkington and Jason Bill set personal bests and landed on Illinois' all-time 5K list. With his time of 14:08.61, Pilkington debuted on the Illini's chart at No. 4, running the best time by an Illini since 1985 and provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Bill's 14:17.10 set a new personal best and ranks seventh on Illinois' list.

The Illini are off until the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. on February 26-27.