CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois women's track and field team won six events title at the Illinois Twilight on Saturday, April 14th, at the Illinois Track and Field Stadium. The Illini won two field events and four running events, highlighted by victories from seniors Sara McKeeman and Nicole Choquette in their final home meet.
 

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"I have a very personal feeling about this meet because, while it's not the end, it's our last home meet with a lot of really special seniors, men and women both," said head coach Mike Turk. "I love them all to death. It's really sad for me to know that we're at the point [of the season], but it's gratifying to know that they're the people that they are. I'm so proud of them all. The goal now is to finish the season really strong and have a great experience."  

The Illini started the day big performances in the women's pole vault, led by Mckeeman who took first place and set her personal record with a height of 13'5.75" (4.11m) to lead an Illini sweep of the top four spots.

"It was a good night to vault because they had a little tail wind behind them and no cross wind," Turk said of the weather conditions. "And,that takes out some of the unknown for them, and I think that we were able to go out there and really let thing go and compete."

Competing for the final time today at home as an Illini, McKeeman cleared her first three bars without a miss. At her fourth and fifth heights, the redshirt junior cleared on her second attempt to advance 13"5.75" (4.11m). McKeeman then cleared the personal best on her final attempt.

Joining McKeeman were teammates Chisom Nwoko, Carolyn Nye and Kristin Slaughter. Nye cleared 12'4" (3.76m) to set a new personal best.

"I can't say enough how proud and happy I am for Carolyn Nye," Turk said of the Illini vaulter. "She is one of those people it's not always been an easy go for her and I think she has been left behind and her performances haven't been what she has wanted to be and I have just watched her this year grow and get better. I have watched her training improve and she stayed healthy and now she is competing. There is nothing better than to see someone getting out of the pit and having a smile on there face."

Also winning a field event was Briana Driver in the long jump with a season best jump of 19'9" (6.02m). Less than two inches off her personal record, Driver set her top mark of the meet on her fifth attempt. Janile Rogers placed forth with a leap of 18'4.5" (5.60m) on her second attempt.

Along with collecting two field events victories, the Illini also won four running events on Saturday: the 800m, 100m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay.

The Illini featured three top-six finishes in the 800m, led by graduate student Nicole Choquette who had a season-best performance with a time of 2:07.84. The Orange and Blue also had Rebecca Craddock who finished fourth with a personal best time of 2:11.59, and Mikaela Lucki in sixth place with a time of 2:13.66 that was just shy of her season best.

Illinois top sprints success came from Emone' Davis in the 100m dash, as she set a new personal record of 12.01 to win the event. Coming in behind her in second place was Janile Rogers with a time of 12.02.

Davis also led-off for the 4x100 relay victory, which circled the track in 45.69 seconds. Joining Davis where teammates Janile Rogers, Sade Hargrove and anchor Briana Driver.

"I thought the women's [relay] was much improved on the relay exchanges," said Turk. "The exchanges last week weren't good and I wasn't happy about it. "But, they changed something and fixed it. They were much better today. The women had one exchange that was a little shaky, but they made the change and they got the stick around, and that's a big learning experience for them. So, I was really pleased with the result."

The Illini rounded out their six event titles with a second relay victory, as the 4x400m relay unit timed 3:58.13. Freshman Alexis Jones led off the relay, followed by Nicole Choquette and Felicia Phillips, and anchored by Kristina Kladar.

The Fighting Illini will continue the 2018 regular season with a trip to California for a trio of meets next weekend. Their annual trip to the Sunshine State, the Illini will compete at the Mt. SAC Relays, Beach Invite and Bryan Clay Invite Thursday, April 19 through Saturday, April 21.

The regular season concludes the following week at the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, April 26-28.

For complete coverage of Fighting Illini Track and Field, visit FightingIllini.com, follow the Illini on Twitter (@IlliniMTrack and @IlliniWTrack) and Instagram (@IlliniMTrack and @IlliniWTrack) and like Fighting Illini Men's Track and Field and Fighting Illini Women's Track on Facebook.

Event Titles:

Pole Vault: Sara McKeeman, 13'5.75" (4.11m)

Long Jump: Briana Driver, 19'9" (6.02m)

800m: Nicole Choquette, 2:07.03

100m: Emone' Davis, 12.01

4x100m Relay: Davis, Rogers, Hargrove, Driver, 45.69

4x400m Relay: Jones, Choquette, Phillips, Kladar 3:58.13