University of Illinois
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Choquette Places 4th in 800m at B1G Championships
May 13, 2018 | Women's Track & Field
Illini relays also score on meet’s final day
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Racing in her final Big Ten Championships, graduate student Nicole Choquette recorded her best outdoor finish of her career, placing fourth in the 800-meter final on Sunday at Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex.
"I think our women are limited on how much talent we have. We don't even have people in a lot of events still. We're just very young. There's good talent and good people there, but we've still got a ways to go. Their effort was great, and they did the best they could, but when you're really young you just have to have them get here and get beat up. They see some things, and they learn and they can get better for next time."
The Illini also scored in both 4x100m and 4x400m relays on Sunday, and Sara McKeeman placed seventh in the pole vault on Friday. Overall, Minnesota won the women's team title with 134 points. Full Results
Building off her sixth place finish from last year's outdoor meet and this year's bronze medal indoors, Choquette timed 2:08.10 on Sunday to edge Indiana's Joely Pinkston (2:08.24) for the extra team point.
Ranking in the top-30 of the West region entering the weekend, Choquette is set to reach her second straight NCAA West Prelims meet in two weeks.
The Orange and Blue added on to their point total with top-eight finishes in both relay events.
The 4x100m relay of Briana Driver, Sade Hargrove, Emone' Davis and Janile Rogers got the Illini scoring started on Sunday with a 44.76 time that was a thousandth of a second shy of tying the unit's season best. Racing in heat two, the Illini beat point scorers Wisconsin and Michigan for sixth.
Illinois added a final point at the end of the meet in the 4x400m relay, as Chisom Nwoko, Ololade Ayoola, Briana Driver and Nicole Choquette combined for a season-best time of 3:39.64.
Elsewhere on the final day of competition, freshman Rebecca Craddock finished 10th in the 5,000m with a time of 17:03.14 and junior Sade Hargrove set a new personal record in the triple jump with a leap of 39'0.25" (11.89m).
Up next, the Illini will await the official list of qualifiers for the NCAA West Preliminary round, held in Sacramento, California on May 25-26. With the top 48 individuals, and top 24 relays, in each event earning a bid, the West Prelims field will be announced on Thursday, May 17. An updated list performance list for each event in each region can accessed on tffrs.com.
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Team Scores:
1.Minnesota – 134
2.Purdue – 132
3.Iowa – 96
4.Indiana – 87
5.Michigan – 60
5.Ohio State – 60
5.Wisconsin – 60
5.Nebraska – 60
9.Penn State – 50
10.Michigan State – 25
11.Maryland – 28
12.Illinois – 11
13.Rutgers – 6
Illinois Point Scorers
800m:
4. Nicole Choquette, 2:08.10 – 5 points
4x100m Relay:
6. Driver, Hargrove, Davis, Rogers, 44.76 – 3 points
4x400m Relay:
7. Nwoko, Ayoola, Driver, Choquette, 3:39.64 – 2 points
Pole Vault:
7. Sara McKeeman, 13'2.5" (4.07m) – 2 points
