Feb. 28, 2007

Senior Yvonne Mensah was named the Field Athlete of the Championships by the Big Ten Conference on Wednesday for her stellar performance at the Big Ten Championships. Mensah took home the triple jump and long jump crowns and finished second in the 60- and 200-meter dashes, leading the Illini to a third-place finish overall.

Mensah also was named the Field Athlete of the Champions in 2006 and becomes the first Big Ten student-athlete to win the award in consecutive indoor seasons since Donica Merriman of Ohio State repeated in 2001-02.

Mensah's first-place jump of 43'07.75" in the triple jump automatically qualified her for the NCAA championships. Mensah also posted a career-best, first-place finish with a jump of 20'08.00" in the long jump. Mensah nearly finished the championships with three titles, finishing behind the winner of the 60m by .01 seconds with a finish of 7.36.

Mensah will travel with selected members of the women's track & field team to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Qualifier on March 3. Mensah will attempt to catapult the 4x400 meter relay team to a spot at the NCAA National Championships.