University of Illinois
NCAA Indoor Championships
Wells Ranks Fourth Following Day 1 at NCAA Championships
March 10, 2017 | Men's Track & Field
Wells concludes heptathlon, Kendziera in 60m hurdle final on Saturday
COLLEGE STATION, TX– David Kendziera advanced to the NCAA final in the 60m hurdles, while Jonathan Wells sits in fourth place in the hepthatlon following day one of NCAA Indoor Championships at the Rhonda and Frosty Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. The heptathlon resumes at noon central time on Saturday (3/11), while the 60m hurdles final is scheduled for 5:10 p.m.
The Illini heptathlete set two personal-best performances on day one of competition, sitting in fourth place with a score of 3,418. The point total is 89 ahead the pace of his school-record at the Husker Invite on February 3-4 when Wells finished the first four events with 3,329 points. Kentucky's Tim Duckworth leads the competition with 3,594 points.
"He had a great day," said Head Coach Mike Turk. "I felt he handled a high-level heptathlon competition really well. It's the first time he's been in this high level competition. You've got to keep yourself on an even keel. His 60m dash wasn't really what we were looking for, but he came back in that first jump of the long jump with a personal-best and carried it through the rest of the competition."
Wells' first personal-record of the day came in the long jump where Wells leaped 24'5" (7.44m) on his first attempt to edge his pervious best mark by a centimeter. The mark scored 920 points, fifth-best in the event. His previous personal-best was a 24'4.5" (7.43m) jump at 2016 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
The Fox Lake, Illinois native followed that performance with lifetime-best mark of 44'10.25" (13.67m) in the shot put. After fouling on his first throw, Wells' second attempt was good for a one-foot improvement over his pervious best of 43'10" (13.36m). Overall, Wells placed fifth in the event, scoring 708 points.
"I was a little concerned going into the shot put because he was a little inconsistent in warm-ups and wasn't doing what he's been showing in practice," said Turk. "He fouled the first throw, but the second throw he lined it up and hit another personal-best."
In his premiere event, Wells took second place in the high jump with a height of 7'1" (2.16m) for 953 points. Wells advanced through his first three bars on one attempt, and then cleared 6'11.75" (2.13m) and 7'1" (2.16m) on his final attempts.
Wells began the day with a 7.13 showing in the 60m dash, placing third in his heat and 11th overall with 837 points.
David Kendziera advanced to tomorrow's 60m hurdles final with a 7.76 time in heat two. The time ranked eighth among semifinalists and fourth in his heat. The time is the second best of Kendziera's career behind his 7.69 time at Big Ten Championships two weeks ago.
"I think Dave ran a really solid race," said Turk. "He did what he to do to qualify for the final. That's the only objective is to do that. He's got a lane on the track tomorrow and he can do everything he's capable of doing. I'm sure he'll be well prepared to do that."
Kendziera is the first Illini 60m hurdler to reach the NCAA indoor final since Andrew Riley placed fourth in 2012. Riley advanced to the final each of his four years at Illinois, including winning the NCAA title in 2011.
The Illini continue action tomorrow, March 11, with the final three events of the heptathlon beginning at noon and the 60m hurdles final at 5:10 p.m. Live results will be provided on NCAA.com, while the ESPN live stream will begin at 3:55 p.m. central time.
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