June 8, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Fighting Illini men's and women's track and field teams continued competition on Thursday at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif. with freshman Omoye Ugiagbe and juniors Yvonne Mensah, Camile Robinson and Carlene Robinson seeing action for the women's squad and senior Abe Jones competing for the men.

The Robinson twins highlighted the day for the Illini as each qualified for tomorrow's semifinal. Carlene Robinson led the way with an impressive personal-best of 56.76 to place second in her heat and sixth overall. The mark moves her into the fourth spot on Illinois' all-time performers list in the event.

Camile, who held the Illini's top time of the season in the event (57.07) prior to the day's activities, just trailed sister Carlene when crossing the finish line to place third in the heat and 12th overall with a time of 57.37. Both sisters will compete in tomorrow's 400-meter hurdles semifinal set to take place at 8:10 p.m. C.T.

"Carlene ran her race to perfection," women's head coach Gary Winckler said. "She was placed in lane eight, a very hard lane to perform well in, and executed perfectly. Camile did her job as well. The objective is to advance and make it to the next round. That is what they both did, and we are very happy with their performances today."

Mensah, the third representative of Illinois' women's squad to compete on the day, finished fifth in her 100-meter heat and 22nd overall with a time of 11.70 (wind: 0.3). Her time failed to qualify for the event's semifinals. The junior will now focus on the triple jump event, her third and final event of the NCAA Championships (the most of anyone coming out of the Big Ten Conference).

Mensah and the Robinson sisters wrapped up the day for the women's squad by teaming up with freshman Omoye Ugiagbe in the 4x400-meter relay. The team posted an impressive 3:34.06, however failed to keep up with an extremely fast heat that saw three teams outrace the Orange and Blue. The Illini finished 12th overall in the event.

"Three out of our four legs put up their fastest times of the season, so we are thrilled with the performance," said Winckler. "They were able to beat a number of teams that they weren't able to earlier in the season. It was a very good effort."

Illinois' time in the 4x400 ranks as the fourth-fastest performance in school history and topped their season-best time of 3:34.21, set two weeks ago at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships.

2006 Big Ten 400-meter hurdles champion Abe Jones had a disappointing day as he was disqualified after tripping up on the eighth hurdle in the men's 400-meter hurdle heat. The performance marks the end of the senior's illustrious career wearing the Orange and Blue.

"It just wasn't Abe's day today," men's head coach Wayne Angel said. "He had problems with his steps and couldn't find his rhythm. It's disappointing for Abe to end the season this way, but I am proud of him. He has had a heck of a career at Illinois. Our focus is now set on the USA Track Championships."

Competition at the NCAA Championships continues tomorrow with Mensah and sophomore Nick Brown kicking off the day in the triple jump at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. C.T., respectively. All results from Wednesday and Thursday's competition at the NCAA Championship can be found at: www.flashresults.com.