University of Illinois
Drake Relays
WTrack Places Third in HyVee Cup at Drake Relays
April 28, 2018 | Women's Track & Field
Illini sprint medley relay sets third fastest time in program history
DES MOINES, Iowa. – The Illinois women's track and field scored 18 points in the five-event HyVee Cup competition, placing third overall for their best finish at Drake Relays since the Cup was first handed out in 2013. The Illini's sprint medley relay clocked the program's third-fastest time ever, placing runner-up, to lead the scoring.
Full Results
"Overall, I think we showed some really good things," head coach Mike Turk said. "I don't think we looked real fresh this week, and there's a little bit of that to be expected coming off the [California] trip last week. We were a little flat this weekend overall, but that's an easy remedy: we'll get rest and will be off next week with finals. We'll come back just fine for Big Tens. The part I was most happy about for both the men and the women is that it came down to the last two events of the weekend, the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, and I saw some great things there. We showed some fight again."
Entering the final relay of the weekend, the 4x400m relay, still with a shot to win the competition, the Illini edged out Iowa State in the final team standings for a third. Purdue won the women's title with 31 total points, followed in second by Ohio State.
The sprint medley relay, using a 200-200-400-800 format, proved to be Illinois' top performance of the afternoon, as the Illini unit timed 3:48.49 to move into third place on Illinois' all-time list. After junior Briana Driver, redshirt junior Janile Rogers and sophomore Chisom Nwoko ran the opening three legs (800 meters) before handing it off to Nicole Choquette for the 800-meter anchor leg. The graduate student's marquee event, Choquette timed a 2:06.95 split to bring Illinois across the finish line in second place.
"This is a proud moment that won't show up in the record books," Turk said of the performance. "We finished second, we got beat. Those four girls had an eye on winning that event, and Choquette was a big factor in that attitude. We've been talking about it as a staff about what we can do to put them in the best position to win one of these events. Nicole [Choquette] got the stick, and she was down a little bit, but she just kept coming, and coming and coming. What a great run she had. We fell short, but that's what this is about. It's about putting yourself out there and taking some risks. That's the kind of thing that tells me the program is going in the right direction."
Illinois earned six more points from their 4x100m relay, as Driver, junior Sade Hargrove, junior Emone' Davis and Rogers timed 45.45 in the event final. The unit reached Saturday's final by way of a season-best 44.75 time on Friday in qualifying.
The remaining four points for the Illini came from the distance medley relay (DMR) and 4x400m relay, the DMR tallying three and the 4x400m relay adding in the final point of the day.
Comprised of legs that measure 1200-, 400-, 800- and 1600-meters, the Illini were led-off and anchored by a pair of true freshmen, Mikaela Lucki and Rebecca Craddock. After Lucki timed 3:34.89, sophomore Felicia Phillips carried the stick once around the track in 56.42 and then handed it off to redshirt junior Kristina Kladar for a 2:14.56 800-meter third leg. Craddock finished off the race with a 4:47.30 final leg.
Also featuring two freshmen, the 4x400m relay scored a point in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:49.62 from Amira Aduma, Nicole Choquette, Ololade Ayoola and Briana Driver.
"We've started to develop a pool of people that can run the 4x400m relay for us," said coach Turk. "I can't say enough about Sade Hargrove and Briana Driver, especially those two, they've been carrying long jumping, running the 100-meters, the 4x100m relay, the 4x400m relay. Whatever we need, those two will go do it. We've got Ayoola, Nwoko and Choquette and that relay pool is growing. It may not pay off for us this year, but we're still going to drop some more time before we're done and will carry over for us in the future."
In addition to the relay success, the Illini also received a pair of strong performances from its freshmen 400m hurdlers. Leading the duo was Aduma who clocked a new personal record of 1:00.00 to place runner-up, while classmate Alexis Jones finished just off her best time of the season (1:01.46) with a time of 1:01.65.
Up next, the Fighting Illini will have a week off to prepare for the start of postseason competition. Big Ten Outdoor Championships will be held the following weekend, May 11-13, in Bloomington, Indiana.
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HyVee Cup Top-Five Standings:
1.Purdue – 31
2.Ohio State – 27
3.ILLINOIS – 18
4.Iowa State – 16
5.Indiana State – 15
