Jonathan Wells Eugene Bound in Long Jump

Kendziera, Quinn advance to quarterfinals

Men's Track & Field May 24, 2018

Jonathan Wells Eugene Bound in Long Jump

Kendziera, Quinn advance to quarterfinals

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Illinois redshirt junior jumper Jonathan Wells advanced to NCAA Finals in two weeks in Eugene, Oregon with a 25 foot, three-and-a-half inch (25'3.5") leap on his third, and final, attempt at NCAA Prelims on Thursday evening at Hornet Stadium. On the track, David Kendziera (400m hurdles) and Devin Quinn each advanced to event quarterfinals.

"I was very happy that I continually increased [my jumps] throughout the competition," said Wells. "We came in here kind of banged up from conference [championships] so it was really just warming up and getting my body ready and performing to what I needed to perform to qualify for nationals within the first three jumps. It's a little different than usual because we normally get six jumps, so to come in there and start with a 7.40 [meters] and end with a 7.70 [meters] is the type of progression we were looking for."

With 25 feet, 0.75 inches (7.64m) ending up as the cutoff for qualifying for Eugene, Wells' final jump proved to be the difference for the Illini Big Ten runner-up after marking 24'5.5" (7.45m) and 24'9.75" (7.56m) on his opening two attempts. Entering the runway in 10^th place with a number of jumpers still to go between the final two of four flights of competition, Wells added six inches to his second jump to move into eighth place where he finished competition.

Having earned Second Team All-America honors last season in the high jump, Wells advances to the national outdoor meet in the long jump for the first time in his career. The qualification also marks the first time an Illini long jumper reached NCAA Finals since Nick Brown advanced in the long jump and triple jump in 2007.

The first of three events for the 2018 Big Ten Field Athlete of the Championships, Wells will contest the opening round of the 110m hurdles on Friday and the high jump on Saturday. Wells won the Big Ten high jump title two weeks ago with a new school record height of seven feet, five inches.

"The goal is to hone in, stay healthy, work with my trainers and trust Coach Jake [Cohen] and come out here and perform," Wells said. "It's survive and advance, that's kind of the motto out here, so we're not trying to jump 7'5" again, because the competition won't go to 7'5." but it's about executing."

On the track, 400m hurdler David Kendziera and 100m sprinter Devin Quinn each reached the quarterfinal round with automatic qualifying times on Thursday.

Reaching his second straight NCAA West quarterfinal, Kendziera timed 50.42 to earn the second automatic bid out of heat four, lane eight, with the fifth-best qualifying time overall. Houston's Amere Latin set the fastest time in qualifying as the finished in 49.71. The 400m hurdle quarterfinal round is scheduled for Friday at 9 p.m. central time.

Quinn also placed second in his heat, taking the second spot of the opening heat, with a time of 10.37 to earn the second of three automatic bids in heat one. Overall, the 10.37 time ranked 10^th among qualifiers.

Both Kendziera and Quinn will compete twice on Friday. Kendziera will contest the first round of the 110m hurdles (6:30 p.m. CT) and the 400m hurdle quarterfinal (9 p.m.), while Quinn runs the 100m quarterfinal (8 p.m.) and 200m first round (9:30 p.m.).

In the lone throwing event of the weekend for the Illini, senior Matsen Dziedzic set a new personal record in the hammer throw, marking a best throw of 209'4" (63.80m), but fell one spot, and two centimeters, shy of qualifying for Eugene. Having only reached 63 meters (207'8") once previously, the No. 2 hammer thrower in Illinois history surpassed that threshold in all three of his throws on Friday. After nearly trying his personal record – 207'8" (63.31m) at Big Ten Championships – on his first attempt with a mark of 207'8" (63.30m), Dziedzic added one foot, eight inches on his final attempt to reach the new lifetime best.

Placing 13^th overall, Dziedzic finished two inches off qualifying for NCAA Finals behind Ricky Hurley (Southern Illinois) who placed 12^th with a mark of 209'6" (63.87m). UCLA thrower Justin Stafford used a final throw of 212'1" (64.65m) to move from 15^th place up to sixth on his final throw to bump Dziedzic out of a qualifying spot.

Five Illini made their NCAA Prelims debut on Thursday. Joining Dziedzic were sophomore pole vaulters Cooper Jazo and Jacob LaRocca, junior Joe Haight (400m) and freshman Jason Shannon (100m).

NCAA West Preliminaries continue on Friday, May 25, with Illinois entries beginning at 6:30 p.m. central time, 4:30 p.m. locally, with David Kendziera and Jonathan Wells contesting first round action of the 110m hurdles. Kendziera will return later in the evening for the 400m hurdles quarterfinals, while Devin Quinn contests the 100m quarterfinal and 200m opening round.

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Illinois Notes:

Jonathan Wells becomes the first Illini to advance to NCAA Finals in the long jump since Nick Brown advanced in 2007 in both the long jump and triple jump
Wells is advancing to his second career NCAA Outdoor Finals after earning Second Team All-America honors last season. Wells also qualified for NCAA Indoor Championships in 2015 and 2016.
David Kendziera (400m hurdles) and Devin Quinn (100m) advanced to track quarterfinals
Matsen Dziedzic improved his No. 2 Illinois all-time hammer throw to 209'4" (63.80m) on his final attempt of competition