May 24, 2005
Illinois' men's track team will look to make an impact in a loaded field this weekend, May 27-28, at the NCAA Mideast regional meet held at Indiana University at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex in Bloomington, Ind. Eight of the nation's top-25 teams (No. 1 Arkansas, No. 4 LSU, No. 9 Indiana, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 12 Auburn, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 15 Mississippi State, No. 21 Michigan) will be present to guarantee one of the most competitive fields in the three year history of the regional meet. The top five finishers in each individual event and the top three teams in relay event will advance to the NCAA Championships June 8-11 in Sacramento, Calif.
The Illini will be lead by returning All-Americans Abe Jones and Adrian Walker and a solid 800m crew of Zach Glavash, Aaron King and Tramell Smith.
Jones (50.47) and Walker (50.94) enter the 400m hurdles ranked third and fifth, respectively, and will look to duplicate last season's regional effort that saw Walker win the title in a Mideast regional record and personal best time of 50.01 with Jones taking second in 50.24. The pair went on to become All-Americans in the event at the NCAA Championships.
Glavash, an indoor All-American in the half mile and 2005 outdoor Big Ten Champion, leads the 800m crew with the second fastest time in the field at 1:47.28 while Smith checks in at 10th with his time of 1:48.81, followed by King in 1:49.61.
Smith will also team with Jones, Walker and Nathan Vadeboncoeur to run the 4x400m relay, an event in which the Fighting Illini won indoor and outdoor Big Ten titles this season. They enter with the seventh quickest time, 3:07.44. Vadeboncoeur will also run the 400m after setting a personal best time of 46.35 at the Big Ten meet.
Andre English rounds out the Illini sprinters, competing in the 110m hurdles, with a season-best time of 13.97.
Freshman Nick Brown and senior Josh Fournier make up the Fighting Illini field representatives, as both will compete in the long jump with Brown doubling in the triple. Brown's best long jump of the season was 24'09.00" while Fournier's was 24'01.75".
In the distances, Seth Pilkington and Jason Bill are the highest rated Illini as both will run the 5,000m. Pilkington is currently seventh with his time of 13:57.57 while Bill is eighth in 14:01.08. They will be joined by Tim Hobbs (3:47.22) in the 1,500m and three Illini steeplechasers as Jon Houseworth (8:55.85), Kris Cunningham (8:59.21) and Maciej Sniegorski (9:06.84) will vie for a spot in the top five of the event.
Complete meet results can be found at www.iuhoosiers.com with results updated following each race.
