Day 1 Results | Day 2 Heat Sheets

LINCOLN, Neb. – Fighting Illini 60m hurdler David Kendziera tied his lifetime-best and advanced to tomorrow's final, while Jonathan Wells (heptathlon) and Jacob LaRocca (pole vault) set personal-best performances on day one of the Frank Sevigne Husker Invite inside the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Kendziera will compete in the 60m hurdles final tomorrow at 2:15 p.m. while Wells will continue in the heptathlon tomorrow beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Kendziera posted the fastest time in 60m hurdles prelims, as the Illini redshirt junior tied his personal-best 7.77 time to advance to tomorrow afternoon's final. After setting his personal-best time in the event last Saturday in Iowa, Kendziera has registered the time in consecutive races.

"Dave looked incredibly good today," said Head Coach Mike Turk. "Today he looked a little cleaner than he did last week. I think he's rounding into really good shape and is in a good position. His season is progressing quite well and he'll be ready to run a really fast final tomorrow. He just has to keep his focus and keep approaching the races one at a time like he is."

Competing in his first heptathlon of the season, Jonathan Wells concluded day one in second place with 3,329 points through four events. Wells finished in the top-four in each event, placing second in the high jump (6'10.75"), third in the 60m (7.00) and long jump (23'7.5") and fourth in the shot put (43'10"). The time in the 60m dash and the mark in the shot put are both lifetime bests for the Fox Lake, Illinois native.

"He had a really good day," Turk said of Wells. "He had a personal-best in the 60m, shot put and showed a lot of progress in the long jump. He's in good shape to come out with a really good score and right on pace with what where we had hoped he'd be. The problem we ran into in the high jump was that his back started to tighten it up a little bit. We'll try to take care of it and get him out there tomorrow."

In the pole vault, redshirt freshman Jacob LaRocca turned in a personal-best performance, clearing 16'8.75" (5.10m) on his second attempt at the height. Prior to the personal-best height, LaRocca cleared each of his first three heights without a single miss.

"He's starting to put together a really good body of work for his season," said Turk of the Illini pole vaulter. "It's a huge personal-best for him to break over that next barrier. He didn't just have a good performance on paper; he looked really good. He's got a lot left in him and I'm really pleased with the way he's progressing." 

In the weight throw, Michael Hyc placed third in the competition with a 65'5" (19.94m) performance on his final throw of competition.

"Today was by far the most competitive field he's seen this season," Turk said. "You can't set a personal-best at every meet, but he was really close again. The thing that was great is that he's turned into a tremendous competitor. Today he was really close, but kept missing a little bit. He kept firing away and he hit his best performance on his last throw. He passed an All-American in Nicholas Percy, the national champion in the discus last year. He continues to show that he's put in a lot of work and it's paying off for him."

In distance events, Sean Pengelly clocked a personal-best 14:51.15 time in 5,000m race to place sixth overall. 

The Fighting Illini continue action at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invite tomorrow inside the Bob Devaney Center. The conclusion of the heptathlon kicks off the action at 9:30 a.m.