Dec. 6, 2007
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois men's track and field team will make its indoor season debut on Friday, Dec. 7, at the Saluki Fast Start Invitational in Carbondale, Ill.
Field events are scheduled to start at 12 p.m., beginning with the men's pole vault, and track events start at 4:30 p.m. The meet will be held at the Southern Illinois Recreational Center.
"We compete against each other so much that it's nice to get away from the time trials and race at a different venue," head coach Wayne Angel said. "We'll be evaluating the fitness level of our athletes to look at where they are now versus where they were at this time last year."
The Illini will travel a core group of 13 athletes to the meet, abiding by the Big Ten rule that says a full squad (considered 14 team members) cannot compete until January.
Junior All-American Lesiba Masheto will make his season debut running the 600 meters, coming off a 2007 indoor season where he took fifth in the 400m at the NCAA Championships.
Other highlighted athletes for Illinois competing at the Fast Start Invitational include junior Andrew Zollner, who competed in the NCAA Championships in the pole vault in the 2007 outdoor season, and newcomer Gary Miller, who was a NJCAA Indoor All-American for Barton Country Community College in the 600m and 1,000m in 2006.
Veteran Illini athletes John Adamczyk (pole vault), Brian Beaird (mile), Pierre Bush (60m), Paul Johnson (200m), Scott Phelps (400m), Scott Puhse (200m), Matt Ragusa (pole vault) and Dominique Worsley (60m), also are scheduled to compete. Highly touted freshmen hurdlers Josh Gist and Cody Wisslead will make their Illini debuts.
Illinois will have over a month off until its next competition, the Indiana Open on Jan. 12 in Bloomington. The first Illini home meet is the annual Carle/Health Alliance Invitational on Jan. 26.
