April 28, 2005
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LAST TIME OUT:
Illinois' men's track team completed its season sweep of the Central Collegiate Championships last Saturday at the Illinois Track and Field Stadium. The Fighting Illini won nine events and finished with 218 points for the victory. Andre English was named athlete of the championships, Josh Fournier became the Illini's 21st regional qualifier and head coach Wayne Angel earned his second Central Collegiate Championship coach of the championships honor.
Leading the way for the Illini were jumpers Josh Fournier and Nick Brown. In the triple jump, the freshman Brown won the event with a jump of 48'01.75" while Fournier, a senior, took second in 46'00.00". In the long jump, the pair switched places as Fournier claimed the event crown with a top jump of 24'01.75" with Brown taking second in 23'04.75". Fournier's long jump was a regional qualifying mark. Also, freshman John Adamczyk tied his season best with a jump of 15'07.00" to win the pole vault.
On the oval, the Illini put on an impressive show, winning six events. Juniors Andre English (14.01) and Bryan Pratt (14.68) finished first and second in the 110m hurdles. Pratt's time was a season best. In the 100m, English ran a personal best 10.52 for the victory.
Junior Jon Houseworth held off UW-Milwaukee's Micah Hanthorn to win the 3,000m steeplechase in 9:24.89 to pick up his first win of the season in the event.
Also in the short sprints, the Illini 4x100m team of English, Nathan Vadeboncoeur, Bush and Abe Jones won the event in 41.41. In the 1,500m, freshman Brian Brodeur won the first event title of his career in 4:09.07 while Trent Hoerr took home the 5,000m title after clocking 14:50.78.
UP NEXT:
The Fighting Illini will travel a 15 athlets to the 96th annual Drake Relays which will be contested April 28-30 in Des Moines, Iowa. Events will be held on Jim Duncan Track in Drake Stadium. Tickets are available at (515) 261-3647.
Historically the Fighting Illini have been one of the best teams at Drake. The Illini own the most Drake Relays titles, having collected 128 in the 95 years the meet has been run. The Orange and Blue also own the records for relay wins (69) and individual event titles (59).
The last Illini title came in 2002 when the Fighting Illini won the sprint medley relay and the 3,200m relay. Junior Tim Hobbs was a member of the title-winning sprint medley team as a freshman. Last season the Illini were on the doorstep of a couple of more wins, taking second in the 400m hurdles and the sprint medley relays.
The Illini begin competition Friday morning when the 4x200m relay is contested.
Complete meet results can be found at http://sonic.net/~peterg/drake/quick/.
DRAKE RELAYS TELEVISED:
Des Moines, IA - Drake Broadcasting System TV will offer its annual Drake Relays Telecast in two forms, to the Des Moines Metro area on Mediacom Cable Channels 16 and 46 and to the world on the web at www.drakebroadcasting.com.
High demand for the webstream each of the past two years caused system crashes rendering the service almost useless for viewers. In response to this problem DBStv is proud to announce it has purchased streaming services from DigitalWebcast based in Chicago, IL virtually guaranteeing uninterrupted service for all users.
Now in its 18th year of broadcasting the Drake Relays, DBStv is excited to broadcast 15 hours of live Relays action over two days. Coverage begins at 12:00 noon on Friday and 10:30am on Saturday.
For more information please visit www.drakebroadcasting.com The Drake Broadcasting System is a student managed broadcast organization on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, IA.
ENGLISH, ANGEL EARN TOP HONORS:
Andre English earned Athlete of the Championships honors and Wayne Angel was recognized as the Coach of the Championships after Illinois' dominating performance at the Central Collegiate Championships April 23.
English won the 100m, 110m hurdles and ran the opening leg on the first place 4x100m relay team to take home his hardware. English is the second Illini to be honored this season, following junior Tramell Smith who earned the distinction after the indoor meet.
Angel was selected as the Coach of the Championships after the Illini rolled up 218 points on the way to a first place showing in the 11-team field. Angel also won the award after the indoor meet.
REGIONAL QUALIFIERS:
With 21 athletes regionally qualified in 13 events, Wayne Angel's squad has already surpassed last season's regional qualifying total, with three meets remaining. The 2004 Fighting Illini sent 13 athletes to the Mideast regional meet in Baton Rouge, La. This year's regionals will be hosted by Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
ALL-AMERICAN ILLINI:
Following the NCAA Indoor Championships, Zach Glavash became the third Illini under head coach Wayne Angel to be honored as an All-American. The UI sophomore earned the accolade by virtue of being one of the top-eight American finishers in his event, the 800m. Glavash joins 400m hurdlers Abe Jones and Adrian Walker as current Illini who have collected All-America honors.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:
Sophomore Nathan Vadeboncoeur took home the first Big Ten Athlete of the Week honor of his career on April 4. He earned the honor after leading the Illini to a 100-97 dual-meet win over California. At the meet, Vadeboncoeur regionally qualified and won the 200m (21.02) and the 400m (46.63) while running a leg in the meet clinching 4x400m relay victory. The 200m time was a personal best.
JONES RECOGNIZED BY HIGH SCHOOL:
Junior Abe Jones was recently honored at his alma mater, Rolling Meadows High School, with a Wall of Fame, highlighting his accomplishments while at Illinois. The Rolling Meadows, Ill. native has built an impressive resume during his time at Illinios. Jones was an All-American and Big Ten Champion in the 400m H, Big Ten Champion in the 400m, Olympic Trials participant in the 400m H and has been a first- and second-team All-Big Ten honoree.
TOPPING THE CHARTS:
The Orange and Blue have 27 athletes ranked in the Big Ten's top-10, including five men holding the top spot in their respective event.
Andre English (110m H), Abe Jones (400m H), Zach Glavash (800m), the 4x100m relay team and the 4x400m relay team currently occupy the top spot in their events.
FIGHTING ILLINI FLEXING IN POWER RANKINGS:
Illinois checks in at tenth in the U.S. Track Coaches Association's Team Power Rankings with 346.14 points. The Fighting Illini are the Big Ten's top-ranked team. Texas Tech leads the Team Power Rankings with 385.77 points. The Team Power Rankings are designed to reward teams attempting to suit up complete, versatile track and field teams. The rankings favor squads with quality and depth across all events but make no prediction about the outcome of the NCAA championships.
