April 24, 2010
Results
DES MOINES, Iowa - Illinois men's track and field sophomore Andrew Riley became the second Illini to add his name to the prestigious list of Drake Champions over the weekend, as he clocked a time of 13.72 to win the 110m hurdles on Saturday at the Drake Relays. Riley also led off the 4x100m relay, which posted a third-place finish at Drake Stadium and notched the fourth-fastest time in school history (39.76).
"We had a really good showing at the Drake Relays," interim head coach Mike Turk said. "It was a good meet for our team across the board, and we were able to drop some times and compete well against some of the top teams in the country. We have really started to turn things around and change the culture of the program."
Riley edged Kansas State's Jeffrey Julmis by four-hundredths of a second to pick up the victory and join sophomore Hunter Mickow, who won the 10,000m on Thursday night, as the latest Illini to take home a Drake title. He is the 64th Illinois trackster to become a Drake Champion and came into the weekend ranked second in the NCAA in the 110m hurdles with his school record time of 13.53. The Kingston, Jamaica native placed second at last year's Drake Relays where he originally broke the school record in the event with a time of 13.61.
"Andrew is an elite athlete and performed well again today," Turk said. "He didn't run as fast as last week but was running against a headwind so it was a solid time."
In the 4x100m relay, the Illini quartet of Riley, senior Azeez Shogbuyi, freshman Josh Zinzer and sophomore Stanley Azie missed second place by a hundredth of a second, finishing right behind Alabama (39.75). Baylor won the event with a time of 39.58. The top-three fastest times in Illinois history are 39.59 (1993), 39.65 (1985) and 39.67 (1994).
"The 4x100m relay ran extremely well," Turk said. "Stanley Azie was outstanding on the anchor leg, but we've still got room for improvement. They are still putting everything together as a group, so we can keep getting better and break the school record."
The 4x400m relay squad finished fifth overall with a season-best-time of 3:08.30, as junior Dan Jones ran a solid anchor leg time of 45.8 to close out the race. Junior Shane Daniel and freshmen Bai Kabba and Malcolm Taylor ran the first three legs, respectively.
Junior Oz Lifshitz turned in a strong showing in the triple jump, placing third with a bound of 49-5 ½ (15.07m). Illinois' two other field event competitors posted solid marks, with junior Matt McHugh finishing eighth in the hammer throw at 197-6 (60.19m) and senior Greg Shroka tying for ninth in the high jump with a leap of 6-10 ¾ (2.10m).
Junior Cody Wisslead finished seventh in the 400m hurdles with a time of 51.66 while Azie false started in the finals of the 100m. The Orange and Blue distance medley relay team of sophomore Graham Farnsworth, junior Shane Daniel and seniors Scott Phelps and Brian Beaird came in seventh with a time of 9:48.45. Senior Mike Murray was 10th in the 1,500m at 3:52.16.
Illinois now returns home for a week of practice before hosting the Illinois Twilight on Friday, April 30.
