Riley Earns Shot at Repeat NCAA Title in 110m Hurdles

Men's Track & Field June 9, 2011

Riley Earns Shot at Repeat NCAA Title in 110m Hurdles

June 9, 2011

DES MOINES, Iowa - Junior Andrew Riley continued his NCAA title defense in the 110m hurdles on Thursday at Drake Stadium and earned a shot to accomplish a first at Illinois in over a half century. The Kingston, Jamaica, native hurdled to the second-fastest time of his career with a mark of 13.37, which was the No. 2 qualifying time overall. He will run in the final on Saturday at 1:16 p.m. live on CBS and look to become the seventh repeat winner in school history and the first since George Kerr won the 880 yard NCAA title from 1959-60.

As a team, the Illini advanced four of their five entries at the NCAA Championships to event finals, marking the most final qualifiers for the Orange and Blue since sending five in 1988. Junior Stanley Azie (100m) and senior Cody Wisslead (400m hurdles) will compete on Friday while the 4x100m relay and Riley will close out competition on Saturday.

"Overall, I am very happy with where we are," interim head coach Mike Turk said. "We have everyone we brought running in a final, so that creates a special opportunity for the guys to leave their mark on the season."

Riley ran out of lane four in the first of three heats in the event. He jumped out of the blocks and was among the leaders at the start but was edged across the line by Texas Tech's Omo Osaghae, who timed 13.32. Those two athletes entered the meet with the top two qualifying times after each clocked marks of 13.32 at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. Riley was the top seed in the semifinal and automatically advanced to the final by placing among the top two in his heat.

"Andrew had a great start and was in the lead over the first three hurdles," Turk said. "He looked very comfortable in qualifying for the final."

Azie closed out his season in the 200m by placing sixth in his semifinal heat with a time of 20.94. The Bolingbrook, Ill., native a finished 14th overall and will earn second-team All-America honors under the new USTFCCCA system. He also turned in his second fastest time of the season behind his mark of 20.70, which ranks second on the Illinois all-time list. Azie is still slated to run in the 100m final on Friday and anchor the 4x100m relay during the final on Saturday.

"Stanley also had a great start and ran an excellent turn," Turk said. "Overall, it was a solid race for him, but just not quite enough. He still has two finals to run, and I know he will step up with an outstanding effort."

The Orange and Blue will return to Drake Stadium on Friday night to compete in a pair of event finals. Wisslead is scheduled to run the 400m hurdles at 6:45 p.m. while Azie will sprint the 100m dash at 7:02 p.m. Full results and a recap can be found on fightingillini.com, and live updates will be made at twitter.com/IlliniTrackXC.

Illinois Thursday Results at NCAA Championships
Q/q = qualified for NCAA final round

200m (Semifinal)
14. Stanley Azie 20.94

110m Hurdles (Semifinal)
2. Andrew Riley 13.37 Q

Illinois Remaining Schedule at the NCAA Championships
All times Central

Friday, June 10
6:45 p.m. 400m Hurdles Final (Cody Wisslead)
7:02 p.m. 100m Final (Stanley Azie)

Saturday, June 11
12:11 p.m. 4x100m Relay Final (Andrew Riley, Azeez Shogbuyi, Josh Zinzer, Stanley Azie)
1:16 p.m. 110m Hurdles Final (Andrew Riley)