Full Results
SOUTH BEND, IND. – Nicole Choquette once again stole the headliner of an Illinois' track and field weekend, this time at the Meyo Invite. The Urbana, Illinois native set a personal-record in the 800m run with a time of 2:06.76,a day after placing second in the 600m. In addition to Choquette, the team saw Kortni Smyers-Jones set a PR in the triple jump today after three Illini set personal-records on Friday.
Day two of the Meyo Invite began with the semi-final of the 60m hurdles. After Jayla Stewart led the Orange and Blue with a PR in the prelims last night, Pedrya Seymour took top honors today. However, Seymour's 8.48 time was two-tenths of a second short of qualifying for this afternoon's final. Behind Seymour's seventh-place finish, Kortni Smyers-Jones placed tenth with an 8.63, while Jayla Stewart clocked an 8.96 time to round out the trio of Illini.
"It was exciting to have Illinois win three heats {on Friday}, so it gives us a glimpse into the history of what the Illinois hurdles program has been: being one of those programs that has excellent hurdlers," said Head Coach Ron Garner. I thought Jayla, Pedrya, and Kortni Smyers-Jones went out and [performed to those standards] yesterday. Coming back today, Jayla clipped the second hurdle, but, overall, we ran a competitive race. We're working through things, and that was part of the challenge. You have to be able to do it two days [in a row,] so in a way it was rehearsal for Big Tens."
Competing in her first triple jump since the Border Battle, Kortni Smyers-Jones blew away her season-opening mark with a 39-5 (12.01m) mark today in her first jump of the day.
"It's a good start," said Garner. "She had to exit after the first jump and go run the hurdles, and then come back. It was a little more difficult to get her rhythm and her timing on the runway after going to that race in the middle of that jumps. Coach Gillion and I were both pleased with the way she came down the runway, and we saw some technical improvements in the take-off."
Later in the day, two Illini distance runners notched personal-record times this afternoon. Valerie Bobart was first with a 5:05.84 time in the mile. Joining her with another personal-record in the 800m, was Nicole Choquette. After setting a new PR in the event at Rod McCravy, Choquette blew that mark out of the water this afternoon, a 2:06.76 time, by almost a second and a half. The time places her fourth on the Illinois all-time list, less than three seconds behind Samantha Murphy's 2:03.95 school record set in 2013.
"We went into the meet with certain objectives, and we met those," sad distance coach Scott Jones. "The good times were a bonus, being number two in the Big Ten in both of those events. I was very happy with the way Nicole was able to compete in that race. She ran a time that was just a few hundredths off her Big Ten Championship time last year. What we wanted to do was to be able to manage the entire meet, and have that rehearsal of competing on Friday and take care of herself, so that she could comeback on the second day and run well. She did that more than admirably."
The Illini distance runners rounded out their performances with Hanna Winter and Amanda Fox running the 3,000m. Winter was the first of the two to finish, clocking a time of 9:49.23, while Fox came in with a 9:59.25 time.
Back on the track, Kymbriona Taylor was the lone Illini to qualify for the 60m dash semi-finals on Friday. Unfortunately, after a 7.60 qualifying time yesterday, Taylor was unable to qualify for the afternoon's event final with a 7.72 time. In the 400m Jasmine Berry ran her best time since the EIU Early Bird with a 57.71 time.
With the pole vault split up into two parts across the two-day meet, Sara McKeeman cleared 12-71/2 on Friday afternoon, while Jennifer DeBellis cleared the same height on day two of the meet. For McKeeman, it was a personal-record mark.
The two-day Meyo Invite concluded with the 4x400m relay, where the quartet of Pedrya Seymour, Kymbriona Taylor, Sade Hargrove, and Jasmine Berry placed eighth overall, and second in their heat, with a time of 3:45.48. The relay time beat the previous top-time for the Illini this season, a time set at the EIU Early Bird in December.
Next Up:
The Fighting Illini conclude their away portion of the indoor slate with the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa next Friday and Saturday, February 12-13. The Illini host the Orange and Blue Open the following weekend before heading to Geneva, Ohio for Big Ten Championships on February 26-27.
Top-10 Finishes(Friday):
2) Nicole Choquette: 600m, 1:29.49
2) Kandie Bloch-Jones: High Jump, 5-93/4 (1.77m)
6) Jayla Stewart: 60m Hurdles, 8.40q
8) Pedrya Seymour: 60m Hurdles, 8.53
8) Morgan Schulz: 600m, 1:32.63
10)Kortni Smyers-Jones: 60m Hurdles, 8.67
Top-10 Finishes(Saturday):
2) Nicole Choquette: 800m, 2:06.76
8) Seymour, Taylor, Hargrove, Berry: 4x400m Relay, 3:45.48
9) Kortni Smyers-Jones: Triple Jump, 39-5 (12.01m)
