April 22, 2006
Champaign, Ill. -
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A week after posting four regional qualifying marks at the Sea Ray Relays, junior Yvonne Mensah showed the home crowd what she and her Illini teammates are all about as they took to the track to host the Illinois Invitational on Saturday. Illinois ran away with the annual meet as they posted two regional qualifying marks and eight first-place finishes, three which where recorded by Mensah.
Mensah's top performance of the day came in the long jump where she recorded a personal-best and regional qualifying mark of 6.23-meters. Senior Nina Henson placed third in the event with a season-best 5.59-meters and junior Kristina Jones finished fourth with a leap of 5.50-meters.
Mensah's other two first-place finishes came in the 200-meters and the 4x100-meter relay. The junior ran away with the top spot in the 200-meters with a time of 24.05. She teamed up with sophomores Tiara Armstrong, Camile Robinson and Briana Cunningham in a new-look relay to take the 4x100-meter event with a time of 45.80.
Illinois' hurdling squad was on top of its game as both the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles saw Illini take the top-two spots. Sophomore LaNeisha Waller recorded a personal-best time of 13.5 (hand-time) to take first overall. Camile Robinson and sophomore Tiffany Nesfield swept the second and third position each with personal-bests of 13.6 (hand-times).
Sophomore Carlene Robinson led the Illini charge in the 400-meter hurdles as she recorded Illinois' second regional qualifying mark on the day, a 59.21 to place first overall. Teammate, senior Natalie Young came in second with a time of 1:01.06.
Illinois also looked sharp in the longer sprints where freshman Omoye Ugiagbe ran away with first-place in the 400-meters with a collegiate-best time of 55.40. Junior Pam Wolf won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.96, while sophomore Rachel Hernandez placed fourth in the event.
Junior Stephanie Simms led the Orange and Blew distance crew with a first-place finish in the 3,000-meter run (9:48.60) while senior Jaime Turilli came in second with a time of 9:50.49. The Illini were led by Hernandez in the 1,500-meter run as she placed second overall with a time of 4:43.14
Besides Mensah's first-place finish in the long jump, Illinois' field events consisted of a number of runner-ups. Sophomore Mariesa Greene took second in the high jump with a jump of 1.63-meters. Greene gathered another runner-up finish in the javelin with a personal-best 40.86-meters. Junior Kristina Jones finished third in the javelin with a mark of 37.90-meters.
Sophomore Amanda Pintaro led the Illini in the pole vault with a second-place mark of 3.65-meters. Fellow sophomore Ashley Hanshaw also put up a mark of 3.65-meters in the event, however only managed to place third overall.
Illinois travels to Des Moines, Iowa for the Drake Relays during the middle of this upcoming week. The Illini are set to kick off the relays on Thursday, April 20 and will compete through Saturday, April 29. Check www.drakerelays.com for more info.
