April 11, 2006

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After recording five qualifying times at the Spec Towns Invite in Athens, Ga. Saturday, head coach Wayne Angel and his Fighting Illini men's track and field team have their eyes set on doing it all over again this Saturday in Columbia, Mo. at the Tom Botts Invitational. Included in the competition will be Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri State and host, Missouri.

While most of Illinois' squad will be competing in Missouri Saturday, select distance runners will head to California. Senior Tim Hobbs, junior Jason Bill and sophomore Trent Hoerr will compete in the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif. Friday night. Bill and Hoerr will compete in the 10K, while Hobbs will run in the 800-meter run. Hobbs will then travel to Pomona, Calif. to run the 1,500-meters at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational on Saturday.

"We are still in the process of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of this team in order to present the best possible line up for the Big Ten Championships," Angel said. "Diversifying allows us the best opportunity to qualify for the Regional Championships as well as get some personal bests."

Last weekend's Spec Towns Invite revealed a glimpse of where some of Illinois' many strengths lie. The Orange and Blue had four athletes record five qualifying marks in five different events. However, Angel remains focused on more than just qualifying athletes for the regional meet.

"It's not the number of qualifiers that I'm really concerned about," Angel said. "It's the quality of the qualifiers that will be the difference at the Big Tens. Our goal isn't to qualify paper tigers but to have athletes that will impact the final score."

Angel will continue to run his star athletes again this week but will mix in developmental athletes to give them a chance to shine.

"We'll be looking for some of our underclassmen to step up this week and demonstrate their worthiness and effectiveness for the future," Angel said. "I want to see some grit and guts this week. I want to see a commitment to excellence."

Worsley Named Conference's Co-Athlete of the Week
The Big Ten Conference (Park Ridge, Ill.) announced that freshman Dominique Worsley was named Big Ten Co-Athlete of the Week along with Indiana senior Ryan Ketchum. At last Saturday's Spec Towns Invite, Worsley recorded two regional-qualifying marks while posting two personal bests. The freshman's first regional mark came in the 100-meter dash where he posted a first-place time of 10.50. His second regional mark came in the 200-meter dash where he posted a time of 20.95 to take second place. Worsley helped the Orange and Blue close out the meet as the finishing leg of Illinois' first-place 4x400-meter relay (3:11.10).