Jan. 6, 2007

Illinois men's track and field student-athletes Edward Mastny and Andrew Zollner completed a successful day of competition in the heptathlon at the Dartmouth Relays today in Hanover, N.H. Mastny (4418 points) finished fifth overall, third in the collegiate division, to grab two team points for the Illini, while Zollner posted a solid performance despite not finishing.

Mustaf Abdur-Rahim of Asc Elite, who finished runner-up in the decathlon at NCAAs a year ago, took home the heptathlon title with a total of 5043 points.

"I was really pleased with Andrew today," assistant coach Mike Turk said. "He was on pace to set a personal record, but struggled on vault. On the other hand, Ed helped me gauge where he was, fitness-wise, and performed well considering the time off. We did well today, however, our results do not reflect that," Turk said.

The Illini will continue action on Sunday, Jan. 7, with a limited squad competing in running and field events at the Dartmouth Relays. The Orange and Blue enter tomorrow's competition ranked in the top five in 12 different events.

For a complete recap of event and results, visit http://www.lancertiming.com at the conclusion of competition.