TUCSON, AZ – The Illinois men's track and field team scored 161 points to place runner-up at the Jim Click Shootout on Saturday at Roy P. Drachman Stadium. Two event titles each from junior Devin Quinn (100m, 200m), redshirt junior Jonathan Wells (long jump, high jump) and redshirt senior David Kendziera (110m hurdles, 400m hurdles) led the Illini, while redshirt junior Denis O'Callaghan won the 1500m and redshirt junior Dan Lathrop the 3,000m to give the Illini eight victories on the afternoon. The meet hosts, Arizona, won the team title with 171 points.
Following the competition, David Kendziera was named the Male Athlete of the Meet.
Full Results
"Today was a good experience for us because we ran into the heat and some good competition," said head coach Mike Turk. "It did affect us a little bit. It's a learning experience. We have to be resilient, and you can't be resilient if everything is always easy. I was pretty pleased with the way we responded for the most part. At the end of the day, we fell a little short on the men's side and the women fought really hard. Overall, we had some magnificient performances, and that's why we came out here."
The Illini trio of Wells, Quinn and Kendziera tallied 72 points for Coach Turk on Saturday across seven individual competitions and a pair of relay legs. Wells led the three veterans with 28 points, while Quinn and Kendziera both scored 22 points.
"The people that are up at the top are doing a great job, doing what they're supposed to do and are good leaders," said coach Turk. "They're performing at a very high level, and we just have to keep pushing everyone else along. We have to continue to work on the depth piece. That's what you do when you're trying to build your program. How good you're going to be is always about how good your seniors are, if your seniors step up you're going to have a pretty good team, and how many people can you pull from the lower level up to a higher level. That's the key, and I think our upperclassmen have done a really good job and we need the younger people to step up better."
Wells claimed Illinois' two field event victories of the day, while also setting a personal record in the 110m hurdles to place runner-up to Kendziera.
Beginning his day in the horizontal jumps, Wells bookended his series with jumps of 24'10" or further. After marking 24'10" (7.57m) to begin the competition, a mark that would have also stood as the top leap, Wells set an outdoor personal best by adding an inch and three-quarters to it on his final attempt (24'11.75").
Tied with former Illini Carl Myers (1995) entering the meet, Wells moved into sole possession of seventh place on the program's all-time list.
In between the two jumping events, Wells moved to the track where he lowered his high hurdles personal record for the second straight week. After timing 14.05 last week, Wells clocked 13.97 to place runner-up to Kendziera. Ranking eighth on Illinois' all-time list, Wells' time sits third in the Big Ten and 21st nationally entering the weekend.
"He hadn't ran a 110m hurdle race in the last two years until last week," Turk said of Wells. "I think a really big factor is that he's had some time to train, and he's learned to train more effectively. He's had a solid year of training and his ability has always been there in the hurdles. He scored his sophomore year, indoors, at the Big Ten meet. Part of it is we're just seeing a continuation of that. This isn't the best hurdle race he's going to run this year, he's going to keep improving."
The All-American high jumper concluded his 28-point output with a victory in the vertical jump event, joining the contest at what would be the competition's final height. After passing on the first five heights, Wells cleared 7'0.25" (2.15m) on his second attempt, edging Arizona's Justice Summerset who needed three tries to clear the bar.
Just as the two Illini sprinters did the last two weekends, Quinn and Kendziera bolstered the Illini team score at Arizona by sweeping each of their premiere events.
Quinn won the 100- and 200-meter titles for the third straight time this outdoor season, nearly duplicating his personal records from last weekend. In the 100m, Quinn timed 10.21 to win a race that featured three times below 10.30 that all would have ranked top-10 nationally entering the weekend. Quinn returned to win the 200m with a time of 20.53.
Like Quinn, Kendziera won his fifth and sixth events of the outdoor season, sweeping the 110- and 400-meter hurdle events. The seven-time hurdle All-American timed 13.52 to win the high hurdles competition, ahead of Wells in second place, and then set a season-best time of 49.92 in the 400m hurdles.
In addition to their individual success, Quinn and Kendziera both ran legs of Illinois' runner-up finishes in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. Quinn ran the anchor leg of Illinois' 39.99 time, while Kendziera took the baton second as the Orange and Blue set a season-best time of 3:12.53.
Joining the 72 points from Wells, Quinn and Kendziera, redshirt juniors Denis O'Callaghan and Dan Lathrop each added 10 points with event victories in the 1500m and 3,000m.
O'Callaghan set a personal record time of 3:50.00 to win the event, shaving two seconds off his personal best a week ago at the Stanford Invite. O'Callaghan's time proved to be a full second-and-a-half faster than the runner-up time.
Lathrop added the final Illini event title of the day, clocking 8:39.77 in the seven-plus laps around the track. Teammate Zach Dale placed runner-up with a time of 8:41.82.
Joining the eight event victories, the Orange and Blue saw a number of other Illini set season- and personal bests on Saturday.
On the track, junior Joe Haight clocked a 46.85 lifetime best in the 400m and Konrad Eiring timed 1:51.27 in the 800m.
In field events, senior Mo Maat set a 23'10" (7.26m) personal record in the long jump, while senior Michael Hyc had season-best marks in both the shot put (55'10.25") and hammer throw (194'2").
Despite falling short in the team score, the Illini put forth a valiant effort in the final competition of the day, the 4x400m relay. With both Aaron Harris and Tony Zea unable to compete, the received help from an unusual source as high jumper Parker Deloye volunteered to run a leg of the relay. In the end, the unit timed 3:12.53 for second place.
"We ran out of bodies at the clerk's tent, and I was about to tell them we were going to scratch, and Parker Deloye came over and told me he'd run," said Turk of the Illini jumper. "I think that's a huge thing for our team. Number one, I appreciate him stepping up as a senior. He stepped up and took that responsibility, but it also had a big effect on our team. It was a great example he showed other people, and the team really rallied and bonded around him, and he ran a great leg."
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Event Champions:
Long Jump: Jonathan Wells, 24'11.75" (7.61m)
110m Hurdles: David Kendziera, 13.52
1500m: Denis O'Callaghan, 3:50.00
100m: Devin Quinn, 10.21
400m Hurdles: David Kendziera, 49.92
200m: Devin Quinn, 20.53
High Jump: Jonathan Wells, 7'0.25" (2.15m)
3,000m: Dan Lathrop, 8:39.7
4x100m Relay: 39.99
