Full Results

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Four Illinois men's track & field athletes won event titles to open the outdoor season at the SIU Bill Cornell Spring Classic on Saturday. Senior Devin Quinn (200m), Redshirt junior Jacob LaRocca (Pole Vault) and freshmen Declan Rustay (100m) and Jaden Jackson (400m Hurdles) led the Illini with first place finishes in their respective events today at Southern Illinois. The Illini also won both the 4x100 and 4x400m relays at the meet. 

"It was a successful opener to our outdoor season," said head coach Mike Turk. "As a coach, I am always concerned about few aspects of our team this time of year: How have we used the last few weeks of training? How well do do we compete after time off? How healthy are we? Healthy is good, as we've been able to give appropriate time off for recovery from competition and training. For the most part, our preparation looks to be above average for this time of year and one thing for sure, we've got some people competing very well."

"Overall, our performances reflect that we are in a good position to progress through the outdoor season moving in a positive direction," Turk said. "The women's distance and men's sprint events performed exceptionally well and we received significant contributions in lots of other areas. Both of our 4 x 100 relay teams showed great promise." 

2019 Indoor All-American Devin Quinn picked up right where he left off by taking home his first event title of the outdoor season in the 200m at the Bill Cornell Classic. Quinn clocked a time of 21.04 to place first in the event. Senior teammate Joe Haight would place second in the event with a time of 21.48. 

Freshmen Jaden Jackson and Declan Rustay both had strong starts to their outdoor careers with wins in their respective events. 

Rustay took the title in the men's 100m on Saturday afternoon, clocking a time of 10.78. Fellow Illini Jason Shannon placed right behind him with a 10.79 finish to take second. 

In the 400m hurdles, it was Jackson taking the title in the first outdoor appearance of his collegiate career. Jackson finished the event with a time of 54.23. 

In the men's pole vault, Jacob LaRocca won the event for the second consecutive year by posting a mark of 4.80m. Illinois freshman Jackson Pompe took third place in the event with a mark of 4.60m. 

The Illini men also swept both the 4x100 and 4x400m relays on Saturday. Shannon, Rustay, Haight and Quinn made up the winning 4x100m sprint relay team. The group clocked a time of 39.59 to win the event title. 

The Illini would later go on to place first in the 4x400m relay, the last event of the meet. That winning relay squad was comprised of Haight, senior Konrad Eiring, Jackson and Rustay. The Illini group timed a 3:19.26 to win the event. 

"Both relays look capable of being competitive on a national level, and (Jaden) Jackson for the men and (Amira) Aduma for the women had promising openers in the 400 hurdles. Those are events we only contest outdoors so obviously their preparation over the past three-four weeks has been on point. Its' great to have Amira back after missing the indoor season due to injury."

Up next the Illini will split the final weekend of March between the Stanford Invite and the Ole Miss Classic. Both meets will take place on Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30.

Illinois Event Winners

Pole Vault: Jacob LaRocca- 4.80,
100m: Declan Rustay- 10.78 
200m: Devin Quinn- 21.04
400m Hurdles: Jaden Jackson- 54.23
4x100m: Jason Shannon, Declan Rustay, Joe Haight, Devin Quinn- 39.59
4x400m: Joe Haight, Konrad Eiring, Jaden Jackson, Declan Rustay- 3:19.26

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