Texas Relays Results | Stanford Results | EIU Results
AUSTIN, TX – Fighting Illini junior David Kendziera won the 110m hurdles at the 90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, presented by Spectrum. After advancing in prelims on Friday morning with a time of 13.83, Kendziera dropped down to 13.60 in the final to edge out USC's Marquis Morris (13.61) to win the event. Competing across three meets this weekend, the Illini also scored event titles at the Eastern Illinois Big Blue Classic this weekend, as Matsen Dziedzic (hammer throw) Dylan Lafond (1500m), Kenneth Allen (400m) and Jacob LaRocca (pole vault) each won their respective events.
Texas Relays
The Illinois placed in all three events that the Orange and Blue contested in Austin, as Kendziera won the 110m hurdles and placed fourth in the 400m hurdles, while the 4x100m relay team took sixth.
"I was really proud of David's performance," said Assistant Head Coach Adrian Wheatley. "He made adjustments from his preliminary race yesterday that allowed him to be in a good position after the third hurdle, and kept his composure deep into the race. His experience allows him to make quick adjustments that can be implemented from race to race."
Kendziera continued his strong start to the outdoor season by winning the Texas Relays 110m hurdles final with a time of 13.60. The Illini hurdler needed every hundredth of a second to do so, as he edged out USC's Marquis Morris who crossed the line in 13.61. Kendziera's time is just 0.04 seconds shy of matching his personal-record 13.56 performance at 2015 NCAA West Prelims. In addition to the event victory on Saturday, Kendziera also took fourth place in the 400m hurdles final on Friday evening with a time of 50.35.
Illinois' sprint relay squad of Mo Maat, Josh Eiker, Devin Quinn and Joe Haight timed 40.02 on Saturday to take sixth in the final. The quartet reached the final with a time of 39.91 in prelims on Friday morning.
"That's the reason we came to Texas Relays, to get an opportunity to compete against the top 4x100 schools in the country," Coach Wheatley said. "This was a dress rehearsal for the rest of the season. We had a little bit of a rough time today with the timing of the baton passes. We will make adjustments and continue to improve our relay chemistry."
EIU Big Blue Classic
After an event title on Friday in the hammer throw, the Illini added four more victories on Saturday afternoon. Dylan Lafond won the 1500m with a time of 3:54.50, Kenneth Allen took the 400m title in 47.47 and Jacob LaRocca won the pole vault by clearing 16'6.75" (5.05m).
On Friday at the Big Blue Classic, the Illini throwers scored a pair of top-two finishes, highlighted by junior Matsen Dziedzic's personal-best hammer throw.
Dzeidzic highlighted the first day at Eastern Illinois with his 10-foot personal-best throw in the hammer, marking 195'0" (59.44m). The mark moves Dziedzic into ranks fourth on Illinois' all-time list. Later in the day, Michael Hyc took runner-up honors in the shot put with a heave of 54'1" (16.48m).
"I think it was a big performance for him," said Coach Turk. "However, the thing that shouldn't get lost is that he didn't just have a personal-best, but he competed really well. That's really much more important than just throwing a personal-best. He had a good series, was putting some things together. He was competing and, for the second meet in a row, he won the event on his final throw. Similarly to what we saw with Michael [Hyc] during the indoor season, we're starting to see that with Matsen. He's competing, getting more confidence and I think there's more in his ability than what he's done."
For Allen and LaRocca, the first-place finishes are the second in as many outdoor meets after winning their respective events at the UNLV Invite as well. Allen returned later in the afternoon to take second in the 200m with a personal-best time of 21.50.
"Kenneth ran really well," Turk said of the Illini senior sprinter. "The 200-meter race today was probably as good as he's ever looked, in terms of his running mechanics. I think he put a really good race together. The big positive out of his 200-meter performance is that it gives him a little different plan moving into the 400m now. It helps him adjust his race plan, knowing that he can go out a little harder in the first 200 [meters] than what he had in the past, and that there's still a reserve there for him to finish."
"Jake is quickly looking the part of an elite-level pole vaulter," Turk said of LaRocca. "He's putting the body of work together that's really solid. He jumped extremely well today. I'm really happy for him as he's come a long way from a year ago."
The Orange and Blue distance added top-five performances, led by three Illini in the top four of the 800m and six in the top 10 of the 5,000m race on Friday.
"I think the entire distance crew had a really good weekend," Turk said. "The guys in the 5,000m last night were really good. I was really pleased with how they collectively performed. It's about as well as they've run in the last couple of years."
On Friday, Sean Pengelly led the Illini in second place of the 5,000m race with a time of 14:34.91. 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. Alex Gold rounded out the top 10 finishes with a time of 14:41.17 to take ninth.
The success continued on Saturday as Konrad Eiring led the team in the 800m race in second place with a time of 1:52.59, while Tony Zea (1:52.92) and Luke Brahm (1:53.91) followed in third and fourth, respectively.
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.
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Event Titles:
Matsen Dziedzic, Hammer Throw, 195'0 (59.44m)
David Kendziera, 110m Hurdles, 13.60
Dylan Lafond, 1500m, 3:54.50
Kenneth Allen, 400m, 47.47
Jacob LaRocca, Pole Vault, 16'6.75" (5.05m)
