Fighting Illini Head To Big Ten Championships
May 11, 2005 | Women's Track & Field
May 11, 2005
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ILLINI HEAD TO BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Illinois' women's track team travels to the Big Ten Championships this weekend in Columbus, Ohio in pursuit of its first Big Ten title since winning the 1996 indoor championship.
The Illini will have several individual event title contenders, including Cassie Hunt (3,000m steeplechase), Camile Robinson (400m hurdles), Yvonne Mensah (100m hurdles), Carlene Robinson (800m), Jaime Turilli (5,000m) and the 4x400m relay team.
"We've been a little surprised with our teams all year." head coach Gary Winckler said. "We finished second in cross country and second indoors, but as a coaching staff, because of our youth, we're surprised that we've elevated ourselves to this level so soon."
"We're excited about what might happen this weekend," Winckler said. "We could be top-three, but it will become a question of who makes the fewest mistakes and who can catch a few breaks."
The Illini are expecting a strong all around performance from a team that is balanced throughout.
The middle distance and distance crews have been very good this season, led by Cassie Hunt and Jaime Turilli. Turilli holds the conference's fastest time in the 5,000m and is sixth in the 1,500m while Hunt is first in the steeplechase and second in the 1,500m.
For the second consecutive year, Yvonne Mensah has been a workhorse for the Orange and Blue. This weekend she will continue that role, leading a solid sprint corps while running in the 100m hurdles, 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay team and 4x400m relay team.
Heading into the weekend the Illini are in good shape in the hurdles with three women (Mensah-1st, Camile Robinson-6th and Tiffany Nesfield-7th) and in the top-10 in the 100m hurdles and Camile Robinson looking to defend her 400m hurdles crown from last season.
In the field, Nina Henson, Shanna Pickett and Kristina Jones give three reliable scorers in the jumps with Henson leading the conference in the triple jump while holding the fourth spot in the long jump. Pickett is second in the long jump and Jones is sixth in the triple.
The meet begins Friday with the multi-events and the 10,000m and concludes on Sunday.
Results can be found at www.bigten.org.
LAST TIME OUT:
Illinois' women's track team capped off the 96th annual Drake Relays Saturday, in Des Moines, Iowa. The 4x400m relay team regionally qualified and sophomore Yvonne Mensah set a personal best in the 100m hurdles a day after regionally qualifying in the 100m.
Mensah ran 13.51 to finish third in the 100m hurdles while freshman Tiffany Nesfield ran 14.00 to place seventh in the event. Mensah's hurdle time was a personal best. In the 4x400m, Mensah, Shanna Pickett, Camile Robinson and Carlene Robinson teamed to run 3:39.87. Mensah was also seventh in the 100m in 11.91 after running 11.71 Friday to regionally qualify in the event.
Nesfield, Mensah, LaNiesha Waller and Camile Robinson combined to take second in the shuttle relay, clocking 55.41. In the elite 1,500m Cassie Hunt ran 4:29.32 while in the Special 800m Carlene Robinson ran 2:08.82. Robinson finished eighth in the race and Hunt was 10th and both athletes were the third collegiate finishers in their events while in the 1,500m, Tabitha Volling set a personal best, running 4:39.94.
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS TELEVISED:
CSTV NETWORKS ( CSTV, the first 24-hour college sports network, will televise three Big Ten Championships/Tournaments beginning in mid-May. The Big Ten Softball Tournament final will be televised on Sunday, May 15. The Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be broadcast on Tuesday, May 17.
The Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be televised on CSTV on May 17 at 8 p.m.
TOPPING THE CHARTS:
The Orange and Blue have 20 athletes ranked in the Big Ten's top-10, with five women holding the top spot in her respective event.
Camile Robinson (400m H), Cassie Hunt (3,000m steeplechase), Jaime Turilli (5,000m), Nina Henson (triple jump) and Yvonne Mensah (100m H) team currently occupy the top spot in their events.
TURILLI SETS RECORDS:
Senior Jaime Turilli ran 16:24.22 at the Oregon Invite on April 23rd to set the Illinois record in the outdoor 5,000m. Turilli broke Ruth Sternemen's 19-year old record of 16:29.65 which was set in 1986. Turilli's time was a regionally qualifiying effort, 32-second improvement over her previous best and leaves the Bloomington, Ill. native 14th in the nation in the event. Turilli now owns the indoor and outdoor 5K school records.
MENSAH FEATURED IN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED:
Following her performance at the Indoor Central Collegiate Championships, sophomore Yvonne Mensah was featured in the "Faces In The Crowd" section of the Sports Illustrated. At the Indoor meet, victories in the 60m, 60m H, 200m and 4x400m earned her the Athlete of the Championships award.
ALL-AMERICAN ILLINI:
A pair of Illinois sophomores came home from the NCAA Championships with a little extra baggage as Cassie Hunt and Yvonne Mensah earned All-America honors. Mensah ran a personal best 8.15 in the 60m hurdles prelims and clocked 8.27 to finish eighth in the events for the first All-America accolade of her career.
Hunt became the first woman in UI track history to garner All-America recognition in the 3,000m after she ran 9:26.99 to take eighth in the event. It is the second All-America honor of her career. She also earned the distinction in the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2004 Outdoor Championships.
MORE MENSAH HONORS:
Illinois sophomore standout Yvonne Mensah garnered Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors after winning each of the four events she competed in at the Central Collegiate Championships at the UI Armory. Mensah set meet records in the 60m hurdles and was a member of the meet record setting 4x400m relay team. In the hurdles, the Surrey, British Columbia native ran 8.23 to set a meet record and provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships. Mensah also won the 60m dash in 7.48 and the 200m dash in 24.50 in addition to running the opening leg on the 4x400m relay team that ran 3:49.48. Mensah's efforts led the Fighting Illini to the championship of the nine-team meet.
ILLINI REGIONALLY QUALIFYING:
After sending six athletes in nine events to the NCAA Mideast regional meet last season, the Orange and Blue have qualified 17 athletes in 13 events for this season's Mideast regional which will be held May 27-28 in Bloomington, Ind.
