April 26, 2007

Des Moines, Iowa - It was mission accomplished for Illini senior Jason Bill Thursday evening at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. Hoping to qualify for the NCAA Regional meet in the 5,000m run, the senior clocked a 14:08.67 to take fifth place overall and, more importantly, better the regional qualifying mark of 14:12.00. Freshman Jacob Nachel also turned in a solid performance in the 5,000m, running a 14:25.26 to take 13th place.

"I was really proud of Jason and the way he battled back today," said Illini assistant coach Wendel McRaven of Bill, who ran the 10,000m just six days ago at the Oregon Invitational. "The goal coming in was to qualify for regionals, and he got it done today. He had to rally and finish strong to get his mark, but he did it. He ran a very solid race."

McRaven was also impressed with Nachel, a true freshman who was just six seconds off of his personal best.

"Jacob has really developed consistency as a freshman," McRaven said. "He didn't get a PR today, but our hope is that he's ready to break out at Big Tens in two weeks. We're very pleased with the way he's running as a true freshman."

While Bill and Nachel were the only two Illini to compete on day one of the three day event, a plethora of Illini are scheduled to take to the newly renovated Drake Stadium track on Friday. Illinois will take part in the 4x100 and 4x400m relay prelims, in addition to the 4x800 and 4x1600m relay finals. Individually, Bryan Pratt will run in the 110m hurdle prelims and Nick Brown will compete in the long jump.

A meet schedule, start lists and results for the Drake Relays can be found at drakerelays.com. Live streaming video of the event can be found at drakebroadcasting.com.