No. 17 Illinois Heads to Iowa for Regular-Season Finale

Saturday, May 2

Iowa City, Iowa

2:00 PM

University of Illinois

Musco Twilight

No. 17 Illinois Heads to Iowa for Regular-Season Finale

April 30, 2015 | Men's Track & Field

Illini continue quest for undefeated regular season

Musco Twilight
May 2, 2015 // 2:00 p.m. CT
Cretzmeyer Track
Iowa City, Iowa

MEET PREVIEW
A week after capturing their third straight Hy-Vee Cup at the Drake Relays, the No. 17 Fighting Illini will put their undefeated outdoor season on the line once more. Illinois will travel to Iowa City, Iowa for the Musco Twilight on May 2, for its final regular-season meet before heading to the Big Ten Championships.

FOLLOW THE ILLINI
Live results for the Musco Twilight will be provided by CFPI Timing. The event will also air on tape delay on the Big Ten Network on Sunday, May 10 at 11 a.m. CT. Fans can follow the Illini on Twitter (@IlliniMTrackXC) for the latest updates on the team.

COACH TURK'S WEEKEND OUTLOOK
"The Musco Twilight is a great meet," stated head coach Mike Turk. "It is well organized and there are some good teams coming in. We've had a great season and have checked off most of our goals to this point. Our main focus now is to get the guys who competed in a lot of events at Drake well rested before Big Tens and get some guys back healthy. This weekend is a great opportunity for some of the young guys to spread their wings a little bit. I'll be especially interested to see if the young guys who competed in relays at Drake can duplicate their effort and success in the individual events."

LAST YEAR'S MUSCO TWILIGHT
Brandon Stryganek (200m), Joe McAsey (800m) and Graham Morris (1,500m) each collected individual event crowns.

A LOOK AT THIS WEEKEND'S COMPETITION
In addition to the Illini, the 2015 Musco Twilight will feature teams from Bradley, Iowa State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northern Iowa and Wisconsin. No. 17 Illinois is the only team in the field ranked in the USTFCCCA National Rankings. Iowa and Nebraska have each been ranked in the top 25 at various points throughout the year.

EVENTS TO WATCH
Some young Illini who had success on relays at last weekend's Drake Relays to keep an eye on this weekend as they return to individual events include Matt Burns, Trevor Kuehr, Malik Lee and Tony Zea. Burns ran the 400m leg of the distance medley relay, clocking a 48.29 split. Zea ran on the 4x800 and distance medley relays, registering 800m splits of 1:51.43 and 1:51.22. Lee and Kuehr also ran legs on the 4x800m relay, recording splits of 1:54.54 and 1:55.40, respectively.

One of the older Illini to watch is two-time reigning Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week DJ Zahn. After missing the 200m school record by .01 of a second at the Illinois Twilight, Zahn will make one more attempt at besting the mark of 20.62 this weekend before the Big Ten Championships.

STANFORD BOUND
Four Illini runners have been accepted to participate in this weekend's Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, California. Joe McAsey (800m), Garrett Lee (1,500m), Dylan Lafond (5,000m) and Jannis Toepfer (10,000m) will all be competing on the West Coast this weekend.

DRAKE RELAYS RECAP
At the 106th Drake Relays, the Orange and Blue tallied 33 points to win the Hy-Vee Cup for the third straight year, outdistancing a field that included Arkansas, Texas Tech, Georgia, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Arizona State, all of whom were ranked in the top 25 of last week's poll. The Illini got event victories from Ian Barnett (5,000m) Cam Viney (400m hurdles), Dylan Lafond (steeplechase), the 4x400m relay and the sprint medley relay, giving them Drake Relays best marks of 74 relay titles and 143 overall titles in the history of the prestigious event.

UP NEXT
The Fighting Illini will have a week off before heading to East Lansing, Michigan from May 15-17 for the Big Ten Championships.