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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Kandie Bloch-Jones and Pedrya Seymour both had personal-best performances in the Illini Classic, held at the UI Armory on Saturday (1/14). Bloch-Jones (high jump) and Seymour (60m hurdles) both won their respective events to lead the Illini, while freshman Kay Hylton and the 4x400m relay added event victories as well. Overall, the Illini placed second in team scoring with 102 points, just one point behind Southern Illinois' 103.

"Both [Bloch-Jones and Seymour] will be two of the people that will be a major factor at the end of the season at the national level. As a whole, we competed very hard and had highlights within the work that we've been doing. The work we've accomplished over break is starting to, and will continue to, pay off as we move forward during the next few weeks."

Bloch-Jones made an attempt at breaking the Illinois high jump school record, setting a personal-best mark along the way. After missing twice at 5'8.5" (1.74m), Bloch-Jones made an adjustment prior to her third attempt, one that Coach Garner sees as a maturity that is leading to her early-season success.

"We've had meets in the past, like at NCAA Indoor Championships, where if she could have made the adjustment she would have been a First Team All-American," explained Garner. "That's what she did today; she made the adjustment. Seeing that today shows huge growth."

After clearing the bar on her third attempt, the Argenta, Illinois senior then cleared 5'9.75" (1.77m) on her first attempt and then 6'0.75" (1.85m) on her second attempt to win her third high jump event title of the season. Bloch-Jones made three attempts at 6'1.5" (1.87) that would have broken the school record, but fell short. The new personal-best mark moves Bloch-Jones into second-place on Illinois' all-time indoor list.

"We jumped at 6'1.75" (1.87m) today, and that's a really good place to be in the second week of January. We don't have to do anything special; we just have to continue to do the work."

Making her season debut this afternoon, 60m hurdler Seymour wasted no time in moving up the Illinois all-time list after finishing last season with a 8.15 personal-best time. In her preliminary heat, Seymour clocked the fifth-fasted time in Fighting Illini history, timing 8.13 to win the heat. Seymour returned later in the afternoon to win the final with a time of 8.20.

Joining Pedrya in the hurdles, Jayla Stewart and Kortni Smyers-Jones finished second and third, respectively, to give the Illini a clean sweep of the top three spots. After Stewart (8.61) and Smyers-Jones (8.74) both won their preliminary round heats, the two dropped their times to 8.52 and 8.60, respectively, in the final.

"A year ago, it was the Meyo Invite before we showed this ability in the hurdles, and this year it's showing in mid-January. They're working hard for Coach Gillon and it's paying off."

Illinois' third event title of the day came from freshman Kay Hylton in the 200m. Her first collegiate event title, the Frankfort, Illinois native timed 24.99 in heat 10 to edge runner-up Anita Saffa (25.05) of Eastern Illinois. Fellow freshman, Felicia Phillips placed seventh in the event, winning heat seven with a time of 25.49.

"She took control of the race coming right out of the first curve," said Garner of Hylton. "She came off the second [curve] and competed all the way to the finish line and that's the reason that she won. What we saw today is what we recruited. Next week, we'll get on a bigger track and the better times will come with that.

The final event title of the day came from the 4x400m relay group, as Phillips, Nwoko, Janile Rogers and Sade Hargrove led the Illini to victory with a time of 3:48.86.

"Phillips did an excellent job leading off, and Chisom [Nwoko] did well too," said Garner. "We ran two new legs today in Janile [Rogers] and Sade [Hargrove] because we want people to share those responsibilities at the end of the meet." 

In the pole vault, Sara McKeeman and Chisom Nwoko tied for second place, neither missing a bar at their first three heights on the way to clearing 12'5.5" (3.80m). The height is a season-best performance for both McKeeman and Nwoko.

"We're getting some good, quality reps in, and that will translate into a lot higher marks down the road," said Garner of McKeeman and Nwoko. "It won't be too long before the bar is at four meters and both of them are well on their way."

In the middle distances, the Illini received strong performances from Kristina Kladar, Denise Branch and Vanessa Flaherty.

Setting a personal-record time in the 600m, Kladar impressed Coach Garner with her 1:36.20 time to finish third overall.

"She showed tremendous effort, finishing third in the 600m and then running on one of our 4x400m relay teams," Garner said of the Rockton, Illinois native. I've never seen her run like that before, so that was exciting."

Like Kladar, Branch also set a personal-best time, a 5:00.08 performance in the mile to finish runner-up. The time was a two-second improvement from last week's time at the Border Battle.

Concluding the trio of Illini, Vanessa Flaherty made her Illini debut with sixth-place finish in the 800m, timing 2:18.01.

Up next, the Fighting Illini will compete at the Rod McCravy Memorial meet next Friday and Saturday, January 20-21, in Lexington, Kentucky against likes of Baylor, Clemson, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Miami, Penn State, Purdue Texas and USC.

Event Titles

Kandie Bloch-Jones: High Jump, 6'0.75" (1.85m)

Pedrya Seymour: 60m Hurdles, 8.13

Kay Hylton: 200m, 24.99

4x400m Relay: Felicia Phillips, Chisom Nwoko, Sade Hargrove, Janile Rogers, 3:48.86