University of Illinois
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Nwoko's Silver In 400m Leads Illini At B1G Championships
February 29, 2020 | Women's Track & Field
GENEVA, OHIO - Fighting Illini track & field redshirt junior Chisom Nwoko earned a silver medal in the 400m Dash to lead Illinois on the final day of the 2020 Big Ten Indoor Championships at the SPIRE Institute. Nwoko clocked a season-best finish time of 53.51 to earn the best-place finish of her career at a B1G meet and score eight points for the Illini. Illinois scored 21 points to finish 11th at the conference meet.
"We had a good meet with a lot of breakthrough performances," said director of track & field/cross country Mike Turk. "Some show on the scoreboard which is important, but some are indicative of our youth growth and where we are headed as a program."
Freshman Olivia Howell scored five points for the Illini at her first B1G meet. Howell placed fourth in the Mile finals, timing 4:45.15. In yesterday's prelims, Howell qualified for finals with the seventh-fastest Mile time in program history, clocking a finish time of 4:44.34.
Freshman Tracy Towns also scored in her first conference meet on Saturday. Towns picked up a point for the Illini in the 800m finals, finishing eighth with a time of 2:08.21.
The Illini women closed out the day scoring in the women's 4x400m relay. The relay team of Nwoko, junior Ololade Ayoola, junior Amira Aduma and Howell timed a team season-best finish of 3:41.10 to place eighth.
"Thomas Saggau, Bret Dannis, Tracy Towns, Olivia Howell, and Carolyn Nye had breakthrough performances, all being first-time scorers at Big Ten Championships," Turk said. "The relays performed extremely well, and we had several more performances that were just on the fringe."
The Illini will begin the outdoor season with the Willie Williams Classic hosted by Arizona on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21.
"I am encouraged by the way we competed, the overall quality of performances and am excited to see our progress during the outdoor season," Turk said.
Illinois Scorers
400m: Chisom Nwoko, 53.51, 2nd Place | 8 Points
Mile: Olivia Howell, 4:45.15, 4th Place | 5 Points
Distance Medley Relay: Rebecca Craddock, Danni Stoughton, Mikaela Lucki, Grace Rogers, 11:24.80, 6th Place | 3 Points
Pole Vault: Carolyn Nye, 13-3 1/2 (4.05 meters), 6th Place | 3 Points
800m: Tracy Towns, 2:08.21, 8th Place | 1 Point
4x400m: Chisom Nwoko, Ololade Ayoola, Amira Aduma, Olivia Howell, 3:41.10, 8th Place | 1 Point
Team Scores
1. Ohio State- 104
2. Minnesota- 99
3. Penn State- 87.5
4. Indiana- 74
5. Michigan- 70
6. Michigan State- 57
7. Purdue- 53
8. Iowa- 51
9. Wisconsin- 37
10. Nebraska- 35.5
11. Illinois- 21
12. Maryland- 7
13. Rutgers- 6
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