Full Results
AUSTIN, TX – Fighting Illini David Kendziera placed fourth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.35 on Friday evening at the prestigious 90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, presented by Spectrum. Earlier in the day, Kendziera qualified for the 110m hurdles final, while the 4x100m relay team also advanced to Saturday's round of finals.
"I'm really encouraged by his performances today," Assistant Coach Adrian Wheatley said of Kendziera." With a strong showing in the 110m hurdles prelims and the addition of some small adjustments, we look forward to seeing the outcome of tomorrow's race. After opening in the 400m hurdles at UNLV, we developed a race strategy for Texas Relays and he executed it very well. "Â
After also finishing fourth in prelims with a time of 50.88 on Thursday evening, Kendziera lowered his time down to 50.35 in the event final take fourth place. Utah State's A.J. Boully won the final with a time of 49.58.
The Illini junior hurdler began Friday's competition by qualifying for the 110m hurdles final with a time of 13.83, fourth-fastest overall. Kendziera narrowly missed winning his heat, placing second to Baylor's Rhys Phillips who timed 13.82. Patrick Prince (UTSA) recorded the top time in prelims with a time of 13.79.
Also qualifying for finals on Saturday was the 4x100m relay team of Mo Maat, Josh Eiker, Joe Haight and Devin Quinn. The quartet timed 39.91 to finish second in their heat and sixth overall. LSU owned the fastest time in prelims with a 39.23 performance to win the opening heat.
"The 4x100m relay had a solid opening performance as well," explained Coach Wheatley. "I was pleased to see our veteran Mo Maat put us in a good position early. Josh Eiker and Joe Haight ran strong legs for us, and Devin Quinn stayed patient in executing his race plan as the anchor of the relay." Â
Day four of the Texas Relays will feature two event finals for the Illini. The 4x100m relay final is scheduled for 1 p.m. central time, while David Kendziera will follow in the 110m hurdles final at 2:40 p.m.
EIUÂ Big Blue Classic
Junior Matsen Dzeidzic highlighted day one of competition when he won the hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 195'0" (59.44m). The new record performance by Dziedzic topped his pervious best throw of 184'3" (56.15m) at last season's Illini Open by more than ten feet.
Ben Barnes also set a personal-best performance, leaping 23'5.5" (7.15m) to place fourth in the long jump. Teammate Jonathan Wells tied for second with a mark of 23'8" (7.21m).
The Illini distance team took six of the top 10 spots in the 5,000m, led by Sean Pengelly's runner-up time of 14:34.91. Teammates Dan Lathrop (4th/14:35.68), Zack Smith (5th/14:35.88), Zach Dale (6th/14:37.52) and Billy Magnesen (7th/14:37.92) placed fourth through seventh, including personal-best times from Smith and Dale, while Alex Gold rounded out the top 10 finishes with a time of 14:41.17 to take ninth.
Stanford Invite
A pair of distance runners competed on the west coast Friday evening, as Reiser set a new personal-best in the 5,000m and Jon Davis won his heat of the 1500m.
Reiser timed 14:09.21 in the 5,000m, improving upon his previous best time of 14:17.13 at last year's Stanford Invite. Davis won his heat of the 1500m with a time of 3:45.64, edged Arizona's Carlos Villarreal at the line by 0.04 seconds. Â
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