Day 1 Results
Live Stats
Day 2 Live Stream
LEXINGTON, KY. – The Fighting Illini completed day one of the Rod McCravy Memorial Meet this afternoon with ten different Illini competing across four events. The Orange and Blue finished the day with two personal-record performances and a 200m dash race that saw each sprinter top their best time of the season.
"It was an opportunity to get in the middle of some of the best competition in the country," said Head Coach Ron Garner. "The other teams that came in here, they've had several meets themselves and people are looking at trying to step it up a notch. So, we got that exposure."
Junior Kandie Bloch-Jones began the day for the Illini with a personal-record performance in the high jump. Entering the day with a personal-best indoor clearance of 1.82m, the Argenta, Illinois native marked 1.83m this afternoon on her way to finishing second behind three-time All-American Tatiana Gusin's 1.86m mark. The 1.83m mark by Bloch-Jones moves her into sixth-place in the country as the season approach's its one-month mark.
"This place can be tough in that each time {Kandie} has had a shaky start each time we've come in here," said Garner. "It's quite a {talented} field. I think the top-eight jumpers have jumped over 5-103/4 at some point in their career. She beat a three-time NCAA Champion tonight, and had a great attempt at 6-11/4. {Overall,} it was a great breakthrough and a personal-record indoors."
Janile Rogers and Briana Driver opened the day for the Illini in the long jump, where both advanced to the finals and Rogers posted her best mark of the season, 5.63m. In an event field that included eventual winner, and All-American, Sha'Keela Saunders among other top athletes, Garner was impressed with the performance.
"I was pleased with Janile's efforts, both her and Briana {Driver} made it to the final, which we had no one advance to the final last year. Even though she was back from the event-leader, the national leader, it was good that she was able to get six jumps in and work on some things. I was very pleased with the process that we went through today."
Senior Jennifer DeBellis and sophomore Sara McKeeman both notched season-best marks in the pole vault this afternoon. DeBellis led the duo with a sixth-place finish after clearing 3.97, topping her pervious season-best mark of 3.90m. McKeeman placed behind DeBellis in seventh after setting a new personal-record in the event with a clearance of 3.82m.
"Jenn jumped at 4.07m, so it's just working through a few things and she's ready to go beyond that," said Garner. "Same thing with Sara. Coach Carrel was pleased with what they've done. They're better than what they're vaulting in height, so that's very encouraging. They're doing a lot of good things, and now it's just tidying things up."
On the track, seven Illini, three of whom are freshmen, competed in the 200m dash. While all seven clocking season-best times, Sade Hargrove turned in the top performance of the heats with a 24.93 time that bested her 25.45 time at last weekend's Illini Classic. Behind Hargrove, Kymbriona Taylor crossed the finish line with a time of 25.01. Five sprinters donning the Orange and Blue finished within two-tenths of each other, led by Kortni Smyers-Jones and Janile Rogers with a 25.14 mark, followed by Briana Driver, Jayla Stewart and Pedrya Seymour in consecutive fashion.
"Sade had a good run, so that was progress," said Garner. "The others had a good work day, we warmed up well well and were prepared to run. It was a different configuration of the track, 292 meters, and it was our first time on that. This was very important preparation for the Big Ten {meet} because the Big Ten is a 300-meter track."
The Fighting Illini will return to action tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. central time, beginning with the 60m hurdles. Later in the day, Nicole Choquette will face some of the best 800m runners in the country, a race Coach Garner says he's looking forward seeing how Choquette performs.
"Tomorrow is a great opportunity for Nicole Choquette with a great field in the 800m," explained Garner. "I'm sure she'll come out of it with a great performance. The two ladies up front have run close to two-flat, so it'll be pretty exciting. She'll be in new territory, which is good."
Top Ten Finishes:
2. Kandie Bloch-Jones: High Jump (1.83m)
6. Jennifer DeBellis: Pole Vault (3.97m)
7. Sara McKeeman: Pole Vault (3.82m)
7. Janile Rogers: Long Jump (5.63m)
