AMES, Iowa – Illinois redshirt freshman Jon Davis ran the fastest 3,000m race in Fighting Illini track and field history, finishing the race in 7:49.92 to place third in a field that featured some of the best distance runners in the country. Along with Davis' record-setting performance, the Illini earned event victories from Matsen Dziedzic (weight throw), Mo Maat (long jump), David Kendziera (60m hurdles) and Devin Quinn (200m).
"Winning at meets like this requires you to put up a big performance," Turk said of the four event titles. "There's a lot of good athletes here, so we're thrilled with each of the performances."
Racing at the front of the pack for the majority of the race, Davis jockeyed for the lead with Grant Fisher (Stanford) and Andy Trounard (Northern Arizona). However, Fisher and Trounard were both able to hold off Davis after pulling ahead in the final couple of laps.
"He ran fast, and the time is good, but he's still maturing as a runner and learning how to race," said head coach Mike Turk. "He did make a mistake in the race with about 800m to go. He got into a bit of trance and they gapped him a little bit. That made a difference for him coming down the stretch, and he knew it. There's still more there for him to do, and it was a great performance. He's still a work in progress and that's what's really exciting about what he's doing."
The top three finishers each clocked times that were faster than the second best time in the country entering Friday. Placing third, Davis beat out a pair of top Big Ten distance runners in Indiana's Kyle Mau (7:50.85) and Wisconsin's Oliver Hoare (7:51.69) who took fourth and fifth, respectively. Combined with the historic mile race two weeks ago, the 3,000m race gives Jon Davis two school records so far this season. Full results from day one can be viewed here.
In the afternoon session, Illinois kicked off the day with a pair of victories in field events, one in the weight throw and a second in the long jump, and another two on the track.
Senior thrower Matsen Dziedzic won the weight throw for the third straight week, surpassing 20 meters twice on Friday afternoon. Dziedzic's third attempt was his best of the series, flying 66'0.5" (20.13m). The other 20-meter throw came on Dziedzic's next attempt, marking 65'9" (20.04m).
"The great thing about Matsen is that he's getting to place where he's really starting to learn how to go for it without getting out of his own element," Turk said of Dziedzic. "He's staying within himself a little better. He fouled a big one on his last throw today. The big throw is coming, and it's close. There's something special there that he's capable of doing."
Mo Maat added the second victory in the horizontal jumps, as he used his fifth jump of the day to best Minnesota's Mason Roomes who placed runner-up. On the fifth jump, Maat leaped 23'6" (7.16m), his third best jump of the season, to take the lead after Roomes held the top mark following his second attempt of 23'3.25" (7.09m).
"I was really pleased with Mo Maat," Turk said of the senior jumper. "I thought he had a special performance after being banged up for a couple weeks. This isn't an easy place to jump visually because it's at a weird angle in a corner. He kept going along, and then on the last jump he was able to put some things together."
In the 60m hurdles, redshirt senior David Kendziera matched his best time of the season on his way to dominating the prelims and finals. Kendziera opened with a 7.81 time that was 0.13 seconds better than the next best qualifying time, and then concluded his day with a 7.76 clip in the final that beat Illinois State's Jaylan McConico by 0.06 seconds. The 7.76 time ties Kendziera's time from the Illini Classic on January 27.
"Dave is winning these races [this season] really easy, and today was no exception," Turk said. "He pulled away from everybody in both the prelim and the final. I kind of thought it'd be nice to see him start dropping some time, but he's running consistently faster than he was this time last year. We haven't see his best race yet, not even close."
Rounding out the afternoon session for the Illini men's team was a trio of 200m seasonal bests, highlighted by junior Devin Quinn's top overall time.
"I thought Devin showed some things today," said Turk. "It was a smaller improvement than what we'd like to see, but, man, did he run well. He executed his race really well, and I feel great about him going into the Big Ten meet. I think he's got himself poised to do some really big things."
Racing out of lane five in the opening heat, Quinn set a time that wouldn't be matched in remaining four heats. Entering with a season best time of 21.18, Quinn lowered it down to 21.12 to win his heat and the overall event by 0.15 seconds. Placing third and fifth behind Quinn were sophomore teammates Josh Eiker and Joe Haight. Racing in neighboring lanes of heat two, Eiker clocked 21.29 to lead the heat, while Haight took second at 21.75.
The Fighting Illini conclude the Iowa State Classic on Saturday, February 10, at 12 p.m. central time. The meet can be streamed live on FloTrack with a subscription to the platform. Live results can be accessed at https://results.flotrack.org/mid_1347.
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