Dylan Lafond Wins Big Ten Steeplechase Title

Eight Illini in Sunday track finals

Men's Track & Field May 13, 2017

Dylan Lafond Wins Big Ten Steeplechase Title

Eight Illini in Sunday track finals

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Fighting Illini senior Dylan Lafond won the 3,000m steeplechase Big Ten title in convincing fashion, clocking an 8:40.54 personal-record time to win the race by five seconds. The first Illini to win the Big Ten title in the steeplechase since John Thanos in 1988, Lafond gave Illinois its first Big Ten champion of the weekend. Currently sitting in eighth place overall with 16 points, the Illini have qualified eight athletes for Sunday's track finals. Sunday's competition begins at 10:30 a.m. central time and can be streamed live on BTN2Go.

"The title Big Ten Champion sounds really awesome to me," Lafond said following the race. "A lot of really great runners have that title. I'm just happy to be in that same group now. It's something I have worked so hard for and I'm glad all that hard work has finally paid off."

The first Illini to win the 3,000m steeplechase in almost 30 years, Lafond led the race from start to finish as he improved upon his personal-record time from NCAA Championships two years ago. Entering the weekend ranked fifth in the nation, the Illini senior held a consistent pace throughout the eight-lap competition and beat runner-up Minnesota's Obsa Ali (8:45.55) by a full five seconds. His 8:40.54 time improves upon his previous best finish of 8:41.11 at 2015 NCAA Championships, which ranks fourth all-time in Illinois history.

"It was a commanding performance," said Coach Turk of Lafond. "I think it would have been easy for him to run the race differently, but he knows he likes to run the race in the front and is confident he could get the job done that way. He was in control the whole way, and I think there are big things to come from him the next few weeks."

Just before Lafond crossed the finish line to score 10 points for the Illini, Jonathan Wells added five points to the Illinois total with a fourth-place finish in the long jump. Entering with a personal-record of 24'5" (7.47m), Wells bested the mark by six inches (24'11") on his second jump of competition to place second in his flight and fourth overall.

"He's had a really rough spring, and there's been some personal things that have been hard to deal with," said Turk. "I think he's the poster boy for what we want our program to stand for. He's handled tremendous adversity over the past six weeks; especially over the past couple weeks. He just came out here and performed. He didn't back down, or make any excuses, and I'm so proud of him."

On the track, the Orange and Blue added three more entries in Sunday's round of finals after Devin Quinn (200m), Josh Eiker (200m), David Kendziera (400m hurdles), Jon Davis (1500m) and Jesse Reiser (1500m) each advanced on Friday.

In the 100m, Devin Quinn advanced to his second sprints final of the weekend with a 10.45 time to win his heat of qualifying and place fourth among the nine qualifying times. Joining Quinn in advancing was junior Cole Henderson. Henderson advanced to the first Big Ten final of his career with a time of 10.588, edging out Ohio State's James Clark by 0.02 seconds.

"Devin is a different guy than he was last year as a freshman," Turk explained. "He's confident. He belongs here and understands what's going on. Not to be lost in that race was the performance by Cole Henderson to make that final. It's a huge accomplishment for [Cole], and I think he will do well tomorrow."

Like Quinn, David Kendziera advanced to his second event final of the weekend, winning his heat of the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.68. The time was the second-best in qualifying, trailing only Aaron Mallet's (Iowa) time of 13.57. Kendziera will also compete in the 400m hurdles final on Sunday after advancing on Friday with a season-best time of 50.13.

Although they missed qualifying for the final, Konrad Eiring and Tony Zea both set personal-best performances in the 800m on Saturday. Eiring improved his best time in the event with a 1:49.86 finish, while Zea crossed the finish line in 1:52.29.

"That was a gutsy performance from Konrad," said Turk. "He went out with the lead, and did what he had to do. He was definitely an underdog in that race, and he gave it a heck of a run to set a new personal-record."

The Fighting Illini will return to the track once more on Sunday for the final day of 2017 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, as the Illini contest track finals and three more field event finals.

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Team Scores (Full Results):

1.Penn State – 52

2.Michigan – 40

3.Wisconsin – 37

4.Indiana – 35

5.Nebraska – 32

6.Ohio State – 18

7.Rutgers – 17

8.Illinois – 16

9.Minnesota – 14

10.Iowa – 6

11.Michigan State – 4