OXFORD, Miss. – Junior sprinter Devin Quinn set the fastest 100m dash, 10.20, and then the second fastest 200m dash, 20.45, in NCAA Division I this season, as the Illinois men's track and field team collected eight event titles at the Ole Miss Classic. Quinn won both events, setting the second fastest Illinois mark in the 200m, and also anchored the 4x100m relay team to victory. Joining Quinn, Kendziera set a top five time in the 110m hurdles (13.46) and 400m hurdles (50.82).
Full Results
Joining Quinn and Kendziera in winning event titles were Cooper Jazo with a personal record in the pole vault, Jonathan Wells in the long jump and both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
"I think we had an outstanding meet," said head coach Mike Turk. "I was really pleased. I think we looked like we were in midseason form. Obviously the [good] weather was a factor in the performances today. If you look at our performances today, Devin's times in the 100m and 200m, and David's [Kendziera] times in the hurdles and Chisom [Nwoko] in the 400m, and a whole bunch of others, those are peak season type of performances. We haven't trained at that level yet, so those are outstanding indicators for our team moving forward."
After clocking his fastest 100m season-opening time of his career (10.37) last week at Southern Illinois, junior sprinter Devin Quinn continued his hot start to the 2018 outdoor season by setting this nation's second fastest time, leading the Big Ten conference. Quinn improved upon his 10.37 opener last weekend by shaving off 0.17 seconds to tie his personal record, fourth fastest in program history, of 10.20 from last year's Illinois Twilight meet.
"What I see is that he wants to be great. It's that simple. I know he hasn't been excited about the start to the 100m, but that shows you the kind of character he has. He just wants to be the best. He knows he's not at the top of the mountain."
Quinn then capped off his stellar day in the 200m when he lowered his wind-legal personal record 200m dash by 0.35 seconds, down to a 20.45 mark that ranks third nationally and tops in the conference. The time passes four former Illini – Dominique Worsley (20.77), Lester Washington (20.75), Stanley Azie (20.67), Brandon Stryganek (20.65) and Anthony Jones (20.62) – for second place on Illinois' all-time list. Nationally, the Big Ten leading time sits only behind USC's Michael Norman (20.37). The 20.37 time is also the Illinois school record, set by D.J. Zahn in 2015.
"Devin had a really good day," said sprints coach Adrian Wheatley. "It's been really exciting to see him continue to develop this season. He's been working on maximizing his ability to close well and show patience in the front part of the 100m. In his 200m, he ran an aggressive first part of the race and allowed him to be in a good position to compete. Overall, he's really responded well to the training."
The 20.45 winning time was joined by teammates Joe Haight (21.20), in third, and Mo Maat (21.61), in fifth.
The Punta Gorda, Florida native opened his afternoon by running the final leg on the first track event title of the day for the Illini, as the 4x100m relay team clocked 40 seconds on the nose to win their second relay title in as many weeks. Senior Mo Maat led off, followed by freshman Jason Shannon and junior Joe Haight.
The sprint success on Saturday continued beyond Quinn, as redshirt senior hurdler David Kendziera swept both hurdle events for the second week in a row while Joe Haight (400m) and Jonathan Wells (110m hurdles) each tallied runner-up finishes.
Like Quinn, Kendziera made improvements off his times from Southern Illinois a week ago. Most noticeably, Kendziera clocked the third-fastest 110m hurdle time of his career with a winning finish of 13.46. The time is just 0.07 seconds off his personal-record performance at NCAA Championships last June. Redshirt junior teammate Jonathan Wells made it a sweep of the high hurdles top spots with a 14.05 personal record in his season debut in the event.
"I think today the start he had was what he's been looking for all year, and it was, by far, the best he's looked coming over the first hurdle," said head coach Mike Turk of Kendziera. "Coming off the first hurdle, I felt he was much better positioned with his posture. He ran awesome, and I was really happy to see that."
Kendziera added in his fourth title in as many individual events this season with a 50.82 mark in the 400m hurdles, which ranks sixth nationally and best in the Big Ten. Kendziera beat out runner-up Nick Hilson (Arkansas State) by 0.96 seconds.
The Illini seven-time All-American returned with Isaiah Michl, Konrad Eiring and Tony Zea to win Illinois' eighth, and final, event of the day in the 4x400m relay. The first 4x400m relay of the outdoor season for the Illini, the unit clocked 3:15.31.
Taking second in the open 400, Joe Haight rounded out the sprint performances with a 47.55 outdoor personal record time.
Adding to the six event titles on the track, the Orange and Blue received victories in a pair of field events, the pole vault and long jump, and a runner-up finish in the hammer throw.
Cooper Jazo won his first pole vault event title of the outdoor season, doing so by clearing his first four bars without a miss. The four-bar series culminated in a lifetime best clearance of 16'10.75" (5.15m).
"Cooper had a tough week of practice," explained Turk. "He was having trouble with his approach, basically got to the point where we stopped. If we aren't making progress, there's no point to it. When that happens, you have to be able to pull things back and rely on experience and training. And, I think that's what Cooper did today. He was able to wash away some of the struggles he had in practice and got after it. His clearance at 5.15 meters was impressive. He was well over [the bar] and was a really impressive performance."
Prior to setting a 110m hurdles personal record, Jonathan Wells won the long jump by bookending his six-jump series with a pair of 24 feet, seven inch jumps. Wells led off with his best performance of the day, jumping 24'7.75" (7.51m) for a mark that would hold serve through finals. In his last jump of finals, Wells nearly duplicated his first jump with a 24'7" (7.49m) leap.
Senior thrower Matsen Dziedzic rounded out the top field event performances with a 201'0" (61.26m) personal record performance in the hammer throw to place runner-up to the nation's 12th-ranked thrower Cristian Ravar Ladislau of Arkansas State. Dziedzic's mark is a two inch improvement from his 199'2" (60.72m) throw last week at Southern Illinois.
Illinois' distance crew saw its best performances of the weekend come in its middle distance races. Split between Stanford and Ole Miss, the Illini middle distance crew swept the top three spots in their section of the 1500m out in California on Friday and placed two in the top-five in the 800m on Saturday at Ole Miss.
On Friday, Illinois 1500-meter trio of Luke Brahm, Denis O'Callaghan and Garrett Lee swept the top three spots of their section. Brahm led the way with a time of 3:51.57, while O'Callaghan and Lee followed in 3:52.06 and 3:52.35, respectively. O'Callaghan's 3:51.57 performance set a new personal record for the Illini junior.
800m duo Tony Zea and Konrad Eiring finished back-to-back on Saturday, Zea setting a personal record time in the process. Zea lowered his best time to 1:52.04 to take fourth, while Eiring was fifth across the line with a time of 1:52.31
Up next, the Illini will travel to Tucson, Arizona for the Jim Click Shootout on Saturday, April 7.
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Event Champions:
Jonathan Wells: Long Jump, 24'7.75" (7.51m)
4x100m Relay: Mo Maat, Jason Shannon, Joe Haight and Devin Quinn, 40.00
110m Hurdles: David Kendziera, 13.46
100m: Devin Quinn, 10.20
400m Hurdles: David Kendziera, 50.82
200m: Devin Quinn, 20.45
Pole Vault: Cooper Jazo, 16'10.75" (5.15m)
4x400m Relay: David Kendziera, Isaiah Michl, Konrad Eiring and Tony Zea 3:15.31
