University of Illinois
Weems Baskin Invite
Bloch-Jones Wins High Jump at Weems Baskin Invite
March 25, 2017 | Women's Track & Field
Three other Illini earn runner-up finishes
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Kandie Bloch-Jones won the high jump competition, while three other Illini earned runner-up finishes, as the Illini women's track and field team concluded action at the Weems Baskin Invite on Saturday afternoon. Sade Hargrove set personal-best times in both the 100m and 200m, while the 4x100m relay lowered its time by over a second from last weekend's outdoor opener.
"It's been 10 days on the road for us," said Head Coach Ron Garner. "We've trained hard, all of the different event groups. It was a really productive trip. We've been accomplishing something every day. We had great execution in practice and our attitudes have been tremendous. To finish it off with personal and seasonal bests [today] shows that a lot of progress has been made. A lot of that credit goes also goes to our academic adviser and trainer, who both made the trip and made sure we were ready to go each day. The progress wasn't in any one area, but across the whole team board this week. "
Making her outdoor debut, Bloch-Jones won the high jump with a height of 5'10" (1.78m), clearing the mark on her second attempt. With three jumpers advancing to 6'0" (1.83m), Bloch-Jones' ability to clear the first two bars without a miss gave her the edge over Gray and Dendy who finished with more misses than the Illini senior.
Three other Illini earned runner-up finishes at the Weems Baskin Invite, as Denise Branch, Nicole Choquette and Kortni Smyers-Jones each placed second. Branch led the Illini in the 1500m with a personal-best time of 4:33.27 in the 1500m, Choquette made her outdoor debut in the 800m with a time of 2:08.63. Smyers-Jones added the third runner-up performance with a mark of 39'9.75" (12.13m) on her fourth attempt in the triple jump.
"It was nice to have Nicole [Choquette] back after not having her indoors," said Garner. "Our distance runners dropped down after running in longer distances last weekend. Not necessarily their specialties, but got out good work in. And, Kortni had a productive weekend as well. She had a very solid triple jump competition and dropped her 100m hurdles time."
Sade Hargrove led the Illini sprints and hurdles group on Saturday, as the sophomore set two personal-best performances to go along with multiple other Illini lowering their times from last weekend's season-opener at the 49'er Classic.
Hargrove's first personal-record came in the 100m where Hargrove's time of 11.91 was sixth best in the field and beat her previous best time by 0.06 seconds. The sophomore returned later in the competition to clock 24.29 in the 200m, 0.48 faster than her previous best in the event.
Also in the 200m, Janile Rogers and Jayla Stewart both set or nearly matched their 200m dash personal-bests from last year's Big Ten Championships. Rogers timed 24.05 in heat two, 0.03 seconds off of her personal-best, while Stewart won heat four with a personal-best time of 24.12.
Earlier in the day, Stewart placed third in the 100m hurdles, lowering her season-best time down to 13.58. Teammate Kortni Smyers-Jones also lowered her time, finishing in 13.85 to take fifth.
The Orange and Blue also took a step forward in the 4x100m relay, as the quartet of Briana Driver, Jayla Stewart, Janile Rogers and Kymbriona Taylor combined for a time of 45.18. Finishing third overall in the event, the time is more than a second improvement over their season-opening time of 46.37 at the 49'er Classic last Saturday.
"We're still kind of divided up in the relay with no set order," said Garner. "Both the 4x100m and the 4x400m relays looked a lot better from last week. Last Saturday, our marks were off and didn't get clean exchanges. Today our exchanges were much better on both relays. "
On Friday, Briana Driver marked an outdoor-best mark of 19'1.5" (5.83m) to take sixth place in the long jump, while teammate Janile Rogers took eighth with a jump of 18'5.75" (5.63m).
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