Four Event Titles Lead Illini Men's Track to Runner-Up Finish at Kentucky

Illini beat No. 23 Kansas for 2nd place behind No. 12 Kentucky

Men's Track & Field February 3, 2018

Four Event Titles Lead Illini Men's Track to Runner-Up Finish at Kentucky

Illini beat No. 23 Kansas for 2nd place behind No. 12 Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Illinois men's track and field team scored 97 team points behind four event titles to beat out No. 23 Kansas for second place at the Rod McCravy Memorial meet on Saturday afternoon inside Nutter Field House. Placing runner-up to 12^th ranked Kentucky, the Orange and Blue beat out No. 23 Kansas for second. Highlighting the Illinois performances were event victories from senior Matsen Dziedzic (weight throw), redshirt senior David Kendziera (60m hurdles) and junior Devin Quinn (60m, 200m). Full results from the meet can be found here.

"I was very happy with the performance today," said head coach Mike Turk. "We had some people who had personal-records, and we had a number of people break through some barriers. The competitiveness was there, the level of intensity was there and those are the things that we're looking for in addition to running faster times. Overall, I think it was a very successful meet for us."

Illinois senior throwers Matsen Dziedzic and Michael Hyc got Illinois off to a hot start on Saturday, setting a combined four personal-bests in the weight throw to take over the second and third best marks in Illinois history. Dziedzic won the competition with a final throw of 68'0.5" (20.74m), while Hyc took runner-up with a mark of 67'10.25" (20.68m) on his fifth attempt. Entering the day, Dziedzic's and Hyc's throws would have ranked 25^th and 27^th nationally.

"It was a really good performance for both Matsen [Dziedzic] and Mike [Hyc] today," said Turk. "Both of those guys have more in them that they can do. We just have to keep trying to push the envelope a little bit. We've got to get Matsen to stay within himself a little bit more, and we've got to get Mike to straighten out his technique, so he feels a little more comfortable. Sometime soon we should see them both cracking 21 meters, which would be tremendous."

Entering off a personal record at the Illini Classic last Saturday, Dziedzic marked the first of three personal-record throws on his third attempt, a throw of 66'4" (20.22m). On their fifth attempts, Hyc and Dziedzic traded the weight throw lead, as Hyc marked a personal-best 67'10.25" only to be one-upped minutes later by Dziedzic's 67'10.75" (20.69m) throw. Dziedzic concluded his series by improving once more with his winning throw of 68'0.5" (20.74m).

The Orange and Blue carried the success onto the track where the Illini sprints and hurdles group swept the 60m hurdles, 60m dash and 200m dash for the third time this season.

Redshirt senior David Kendziera led off in the 60m hurdles, winning the final with a time of 7.82. Clocking 7.97 in prelims, Kendziera cut 0.15 seconds off that time 40 minutes later in the event final to beat Kentucky's Daniel Roberts by 0.08 seconds.

Like the hurdles, the 60m dash was a quick turnaround between the qualifying round and final. Junior Devin Quinn won his heat of qualifying with a time of 6.87, second overall, and then shaved eight one-hundredths of a second off in the final (6.79) to win the title. Senior Cole Henderson (6.83) and freshman Jason Shannon (6.93) placed third and fifth, respectively. Shannon's qualifying time of 6.86 set a new personal record.

Quinn wasn't done, returning later in the afternoon to team up with sophomore Josh Eiker for a combined 18 team points. Both racing in the third heat, Quinn timed 21.42 out of the third lane to win the event, narrowly edging Eiker's runner-up finish of 21.44.

Joe Haight added two more sprint points for Coach Turk with a personal-best performance in the open 400m. Haight timed 47.73, improving on his time from Big Ten Championships last season. Redshirt freshman Aaron Harris also set a personal-best time in the event with a time of 48.44.

Haight and Harris teamed up with Quinn and Kendziera to conclude the meet, scoring two points in the 4x400m relay with a season-best time of 3:12.53 for the Illini.

The Illini distance group added in 22 points for the Illini with four top-five finishes, highlighted by a personal-best three-kilometer run by redshirt sophomore Zach Dale.

Dale and senior teammate Alex Gold combined for 12 of the 22 distance points with a runner-up finish and fourth place finish in the 3,000m race. After setting a personal record in the event two weeks ago at Nebraska, Dale cut five more seconds off his time on Saturday to place runner-up with a time of 8:18.31. Gold came in two seconds later with a time of 8:20.81.

Earlier in the meet, a pair of fourth-place finishes paced the Illini middle distance runners in the mile and 800m.

Redshirt junior Denis O'Callaghan had a big personal-best performance in the mile, as he finished the five-plus trips around the track in 4:04.62. Senior teammate Garrett Lee was next to cross the finish line, taking fifth place in 4:10.13.

"Another one of those breakthrough performances, [O'Callaghan] ran a really smart race," Turks said of the Illini middle distance runner. "The race went out pretty quick with a couple guys trying to break four minutes, and it was wise of him to let them go early. Denny did a great job of staying within himself and had a really strong finish."

Konrad Eiring added another four points in the 800m, setting an indoor best time of 1:51.08, while teammate Tony Zea also reset his indoor record with a time of 1:52.88.

The Fighting Illini track and field team concludes the road slate of the 2018 indoor season next Friday and Saturday at the Iowa State Classic, February 9-10. The meet will be streamed live on FloTrack via subscription to the platform. The Illini return home the following Saturday, February 17, to conclude the indoor regular season with the Orange and Blue Open.

Top-Three Finishes:

1.Matsen Dziedzic: Weight Throw, 68'0.5" (20.74m)

1.David Kendziera: 60m Hurdles, 7.82

1.Devin Quinn: 60m Dash, 6.79
1.Devin Quinn: 200m, 21.42

2.Michael Hyc: Weight Throw, 67'10.25" (20.69m)

2.Josh Eiker: 200m, 21.44

2.Zach Dale: 3K, 8:18.31

3.Cole Henderson: 60m, 6.83

Team Scores:

1. #12 Kentucky – 143

2. Illinois – 97

3. #23 Kansas – 95