University of Illinois
Illinois Twilight
@IlliniMTrack Claims Victory at Twilight
April 24, 2016 | Men's Track & Field
#Illini Record Four Event Titles
CHAMPAIGN, ILL – Illinois Track & Field collected three individual titles along with a 4x400m title on their way to the Illinois Twilight team crown. Senior Cam Viney claimed the title in both hurdle races, while Devin Quinn claimed his first event victory of the outdoor season in the 200m. As a team, the Orange & Blue scored 172 points to win the meet.
"The weather was pretty good, but I think it's just a good atmosphere to be in the Twilight with the lights on," said Head Coach Mike Turk. "The last couple of years we've had good performances here at this meet, so I think we're in a pretty good spot moving into Drake. We still have some health issues that we're working through, but we're close and we're progressing."
Senior hurdler Cam Viney went two-for-two today in his final home meet as an Illini. The West Virginia native opened his day by clocking a 14.04 110m hurdle time. Later in the evening, Viney returned in the 400m hurdles and claimed victory again with a season-best time of 50.66.
David Kendziera joined Viney in the 400m hurdles, competing unattached, and finished second with a time of 51.50.
Freshman Devin Quinn claimed the other individual crown of the Twilight meet in the 200m. Competing in the event for the first time during the outdoor season, the Punta Gorda, Florida native clocked a 21.44 clip to best teammate Joe Haight (21.71) in the event.
The final title for the Orange & Blue was added when the 4x400m relay clocked the team's fastest mark of the season. Matt Burns led off for the Illini, followed by Keveion Akins and Kenneth Allen, before Cam Viney anchored the 3:12.74 victorious finish.
"We're making some progress," explained Turk. "One of things we did, is we changed the line-up a little bit. We moved Kenneth Allen to the third leg and we moved Cam Viney fourth. They're probably our two most experienced guys and I think the two other guys we ran, Matt Burns and Keveion Akins, have been improving and progressing, so we felt comfortable with those guys running the first two legs. It allows us to put our best two guys on our last two legs so they can chase some people and I think the sum of that is a little bit better."
The other notable performance from sprints came in the 400m, where Kenneth Allen's 47.80 time placed him runner-up. Teammate Matt Burns followed Allen in fourth with a time of 48.58.
Distance coach Jake Stewart's crew had a strong showing today with multiple runners finishing in the top three of their races, led by true freshmen Konrad Eiring and Jesse Reiser.
In the 800m, Eiring clocked a runner-up time of 1:50.95, his best mark of the season. Senior Joe McAsey lowered his season-opening time from last weekend, a time of 1:51.89, and Trevor Kuehr finished eighth with a time of 1:51.95 that set a new personal-best for the sophomore.
"I think the young guys in the distance program are really performing well," said Turk. "Konrad Eiring in the 800m seems like he's [setting] personal-records every week now. Every race for him looks better than the one before it. Trevor Kuehr had a nice personal-record in the 800m as well."
Later on, Reiser added in another second-place finish with a 3:45.15 clip in the 1500m. Bryce Basting finished third with a time of 3:46.21, while Jared Christiansen and Tony Zea clocked times of 3:51.62 and 3:52.07, respectively.
"Jesse Reiser in the 1500m has really come along way," said Turk. "He's really on the threshold of running a really fast 1500m. The young guys have really started to step up and rise to the occasion. They're improving by leaps and bounds right now, which is something that we really need."
Running unattached, true freshman Caleb Hummer won the 3,000m steeplechase with a 9:16.71 clip.
In the javelin throw, three Illini set personal-best marks to finish in the top-five of the competition. Senior Ben Dodds led the trio with a new best mark of 215'8" (65.75m) to place runner-up. Aaron Wilks placed third for the Illini with a heave of 210'1" (64.04m, while George Wayda rounded out the personal-records with a 181'9" (55.40m) mark to place fourth.
"They through far and had great performances," said Coach Turk. "They've been good in practice and it's been coming along. We saw a little break through last week with Ben Dodds. Ben certainly through well tonight, and Aaron Wilks had a big breakthrough as well. George Wayda, it was the first time he's thrown javelin in a couple weeks, so it was a great performance for those guys. I think it's a great atmosphere, being in the stadium, under the lights was a big part of that. I think it really helped motivate them and helped put them in a good environment to perform well."
Elsewhere in throwing events, Michael Hyc and Matsen Dziedzic both notched top-three finishes in the the hammer throw and top-six finishes in the shot put. Dziedzic placed runner-up in the hammer with a toss of 181'2" (55.21m) and a sixth-place finish in the shot put (51'11.25"). Hyc recorded a 178'1" (54.27m) mark in the hammer to place third, and then a 52'11.25" (16.14m) performance to place fourth in the shot put.
Rounding out top-five performances in field events was senior Mitch Mammoser, who finished fifth in the pole vault, marking 15'9.25" (4.81m).
Up next for the Fighting Illini is the annual trip to Des Moines, Iowa for Drake Relays. Competition commences Thursday, April 28 and continues through Saturday, April 30.
Team Scores:
- ILLINOIS – 172
- Eastern Illinois – 117
- SIU Edwardsville - 105
