BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Illinois redshirt junior Jonathan Wells led the Fighting Illini men's track and field performances on day two of the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex. Wells began the day with a silver medal in the long jump, and then concluded his afternoon by qualifying for Sunday's 110m hurdle final.
Full Results | Sunday Heat Sheets
In total on Saturday, the Illini advanced three performances to Sunday finals, as junior Devin Quinn and senior Mo Maat each reached the 100m final to join Wells in the high hurdles. The three performances join Kendziera's 400m hurdles and Quinn's 200m qualifying on Friday afternoon.
A medalist in the high jump in his career, Wells earned his first career medal in the horizontal jumps on Saturday afternoon with a leap of 25'3.5" (7.71m) that bested everyone in the field other than champion Zack Bazile (26'4.25") of Ohio State. Clearing 25 feet on three of his final four jumps of the day, Wells best leap came on his fifth attempt, edging his previous best jump of competition by a centimeter.
Back in the 110m hurdles for the first time since 2015, Wells advanced to the Big Ten final of the event for the first time in his career. Racing out of lane two of heat two, Wells finished third overall in his heat, timing 14.06, and advanced as the top at-large qualifier with the seventh-best time in qualifying.
Staying in the short sprints, the Orange and Blue advanced two 100m sprinters to Sunday afternoon's 12:55 p.m. central time final when Quinn and Maat finished back-to-back in heat two. Quinn earned the top at-large bid to finals with a time of 10.41, while Maat followed with a season-best performance of 10.44.
A trio of Illini performances just missed qualifying for finals on Saturday, two in field events. In the shot put, senior Michael Hyc heaved a season-best throw of 57'5" (17.50m) but missed finals by one centimeter. Similarly in the long jump, Maat leaped 23'9.5" (7.25m) on his third attempt, but was edged out of finals by two centimeters. On the track, freshman Jason Shannon missed giving the Illini three qualifiers in the 100m final by two spots, timing 10.50 in heat three, three hundredths shy of the ninth qualifying time (10.47).
On Sunday, the Orange and Blue will contest two more field events, the pole vault and high jump, while the team will contest seven track finals. The meet can be streamed live on FloTrack and BTN Plus through a subscription to the platform.
Team Scores:
1.Michigan – 44
2.Penn State – 30
3.Michigan – 29
3.Indiana – 29
5.Ohio State – 27
6.Minnesota – 25
7.Wisconsin – 24
8. Rutgers – 18
9.Nebraska – 17
10.Iowa – 14
11. Illinois – 8
12. Purdue – 7
13. Maryland – 1
Illinois' Sunday Schedule
10am – Women's Triple Jump: Hargrove (heat 1 #4)
11am – Men's Pole Vault: Gordon (flight 1 #5), LaRocca (flight 1 #8), Jazo (flight 1 #11)
11:30am – Men's High Jump: Deloye (flight 1 #2), Wells (flight 1 #6)
11:45am – Women's 4x100m Relay (Final)
11:55am – Men's 4x100m Relay (Final)
12:35pm – Men's 110m Hurdles (Final): Wells
12:55pm – Men's 100m (Final): Quinn, Maat
1:03pm – Women's 800m (Final): Choquette
1:28pm – Men's 400m Hurdles (Final): Kendziera
1:42pm – Men's 200m (Final): Quinn
1:49pm – Women's 5K (Final): Craddock, Fix, McGrath
2:11pm – Men's 5K (Final): Lathrop, Gold, Lee
2:33pm – Women's 4x400m Relay (Final)
2:45pm – Men's 4x400m Relay (Final)
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.
