Illinois’ Jonathan Wells Wins B1G High Jump Title

Illini place ninth overall

Men's Track & Field February 25, 2017

Illinois’ Jonathan Wells Wins B1G High Jump Title

Illini place ninth overall

GENEVA, Ohio – Illinois junior Jonathan Wells cleared five bars, including his final height of 7'1.5" (2.17m), to win the Big Ten indoor high jump title on Saturday afternoon at the Spire Institute. Wells defeated Indiana contestants Treyton Harris and Paul Galas after Wells cleared the final height on two attempts as opposed to Harris and Galas on three tries. Overall, the Illini recorded 51.5 points across 13 scoring performances and placed ninth in the team competition.

Wells got off to a rocky start with two straight misses to open the competition, but rebounded to clear 6'8" (2.03m) on his final attempt. With the first bar under his belt, the Illini junior cleared the following three bars on his first attempt to move into second place as the bar was raised to 7'0.25" (2.14m) with only four jumpers remaining. With Ryan Lockard (Minnesota), Paul Galas (Indiana) and Treyton Harris (Indiana) all missing on their first two attempts, Wells cleared his fifth bar of the day on his second try, which proved to be the difference. Harris and Galas went on to advance to 7'2.5" (2.20m) along with Wells, but none of the three high jumpers were able to clear the height on their three attempts. The Big Ten title is the first of Well's career.

"It's been a long time coming for him to win a conference title," Turk said of Wells. "He's been so close and he's worked hard for it. It's his turn and his time for that. He showed tremendous growth today with how he handled the competition. He came over today after his warm-ups and said he didn't feel right and that he needed to make an adjustment. It showed a lot of maturity on his part in doing that."

In addition to Well's high jump title, the Illini received points from David Kendziera (60m hurdles), Devin Quinn (60m and 200m), Michael Hyc (weight throw) and the 4x400m relay on day two.

Kendziera clocked the second fastest 60m hurdles time in school history on his way to a runner-up finish in the Big Ten final. The Illini redshirt junior timed 7.69, 0.08 seconds faster than his previous personal-best. Iowa's Aaron Mallet edged Kendziera for the title with a time of 7.63.

"Dave is a veteran and he's been knocking on the door of a breakthrough all year," Turk said of the Illini hurdler. "When he opened the season at 7.77 [at the Border Battle] we knew it was just going to be a matter of time. Today, he came through like a champ."

Following two personal-records during prelims, Quinn returned to place in both the 60m and 200m dashes on Saturday. The Illini sophomore began his day with a 6.74 time in the 60m dash final, a one-hundredth of a second behind his 6.73 PR from prelims on Friday. Quinn returned later in the day to finish fifth in the 200m final with a time of 21.19 after clocking 21.01 in prelims.

"With the high-level competition in both of those events, Devin stuck his nose and really competed well," Turk said of the two performances. "I'm really pleased with his performances. He's starting to show some leadership and has grown a lot since last year when he was a freshman."

Thrower Michael Hyc placed in his second event this weekend, as the junior took sixth in the weight throw with a mark of 65'2.75" (19.88m). After marking 64'7.75" (19.70m) to reach the event final, Hyc launched a throw his best mark of the day on his first attempt in the final. Hyc also placed sixth yesterday in the shot put.

"Mike is the breakthrough athlete of the year," Coach Turk said of the two sixth place finishes this weekend. "The highest he's ever placed at a Big Ten meet was 16^th or 17^th. For him to come in and score in two events is absolutely outstanding. With Mike, we're finally seeing the fruition of the work he's put into his events and it's starting to come together. We talk about a process of development and getting better and believing in that process. Some times that process takes time. He's one of the guys that's stuck around and gone through that, and now it's paying off for him."

Rounding out the two-day championship meet, the Illinois 4x400m relay of Joe Haight, Kenneth Allen, Matt Burns and David Kendziera combined for a season-best time of 3:07.02 to finish sixth.

"I think it puts that group in a great position. We also have a couple other guys that ran personal bests as well. So, we're starting to get some depth in the event, which is something we've been lacking for the last year and a half. That's very encouraging. I think we can put four guys out there in both of our relays that can get us to NCAA Championships.

Up next, Fighting Illini athletes who rank in the top-16 in their respective events will travel to College Station, Texas for NCAA Indoor Championships on March 10-11. Entering the weekend, Jonathan Wells ranked 10^th in the heptathlon and David Kendziera 13^th in the 60m hurdles. The rest of the Illini will begin preparation for the 2017 outdoor season, which begins March 17-18 at the UNLV Invite.

Final Team Scores:

1.Indiana – 112

2.Penn State – 84

3.Wisconsin – 75.5

4.Nebraska – 72

5.Minnesota – 67.5
6.Iowa – 60

T-7.Ohio State – 54

T-7. Michigan – 54

9.Illinois – 51.5

10.Purdue – 33.5

11.Michigan State – 21
12. Rutgers – 16

Illinois Scorers and Qualifiers