CHAMPAIGN, Ill.- The Fighting Illini Track and Field team will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. this weekend to take part in the M City Classic Meet hosted by the University of Minnesota. A small group of throwers will also be traveling to Bloomington, Ind. to take part in the Billy Hayes Invite hosted by Indiana.

Action in Minneapolis is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. on Friday and 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, while concluding with the men's 4x400 m relay that will begin at 3:30 p.m. The throwing events in Bloomington that Illinois athletes will be competing in will start at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday with the hammer throw.

Follow the Action

Fans can follow live results throughout the M City Classic Meet at https://results.wayzatatiming.com/meets/8962 as well as by following @IlliniTrackXC on Twitter for Illini updates. Live results from the Billy Hayes Invite will be available here: http://sidearmstats.com/indiana/track/index.htm . Streams will also be available each day at the M City Classic Meet for the field events and the running events via B1G+. A full recap of the events will be posted on fightingillini.com following the conclusion of the meet. 

Know the Field

Athletes from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Illinois currently have entries in the events for this weekend at the M City Classic. This will be a change of pace for the Illini, as the last few weekends have consisted of nearly all of the B1G schools competing at the same event. Illinois should have an increase in entries and have an opportunity for athletes to compete in more events than usual.

The Billy Hayes Invite will feature athletes from Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa.

ILLINI TO WATCH

Bret Dannis

2021 Outdoor Season: Placed second in the 110 m hurdles at the Fighting Illini B1G Relays with a personal best mark of 13.79

2021 Indoor Season: Finished seventh in the 60 m hurdles at the Big Ten Championships with a 8.01...Placed first in the 60m hurdles at the Badger Icebreaker with a time of 8.03...Secured 4th place at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational in the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.99

Jason Shannon

2021 Outdoor Season: Took third place in the 100 m at the Big Ten Invite #1 with a 10.71...Placed second in the 200 m open at the B1G North Florida Invite with a 21.12...Won the 100 m at the B1G Invite #2 with a 10.72...Finished in third place in the 100 m at the Fighting Illini B1G Relays with a time of 10.54

2021 Indoor Season: Finished in third place at the Badger Icebreaker in the 60 m with a time of 6.91...Placed fifth in the 60 m at the Husker Quad with a time of 6.91...Finished in 13th place at the Big Ten Championships in the 60 m with a time of 6.90...Finished in 15th place at the Big Ten Championships in the 200 m with a time of 21.71

Olivia Howell

2021 Outdoor Season: Won the 800m at the B1G North Florida Invite with a time of 2:09.55...Ran a 2:13.12 opening split as a part of the 2nd place 4x800 team for the Illini at the B1G North Florida Invite... Won the 1500 m at the B1G Invite #3 with a time of 2:18.61, setting a PR and moving into fourth place in school history in the event... Placed second in the 800 m at the Fighting Illini B1G Relays with a time of 2:06.88

2021 Indoor Season: B1G Champion - Mile...First Team All B1G (Mile)...Won the mile at the Big Ten Championships with a 4:43.36...Set the Illinois school record in the 1000 m while winning the event at the Badger Icebreaker with a time of 2:46.52...Won the 800 m at the Husker Quad with a time of 2:09.84...Won the mile at the Hawkeye B1G Invitational with a B1G leading 4:40.85...Anchored the first place distance medley relay team at the Hawkeye B1G Invitational

Jessica McDowell

2021 Outdoor Season: Took fourth place in the 100 m at the Big Ten Invite #1 to open the year with a 11.93...Placed fifth in the 200 m invite at the B1G North Florida Invite with a 24.07...Placed second in the 400 m invite at the B1G North Florida Invite with a 55.30... Placed second in the 400 m at the Husker B1G Invite, cementing herself in the Illinois record book with the ninth best time in school history... Won the 400 m at the Fighting Illini B1G Relays with a mark of 54.28

2021 Indoor Season: Second Team All B1G...Took second place in the 400 m at the Big Ten Championships with a PR of 53.51. This time is also good for third in school history...Secured second place for the Illini at the Badger Icebreaker in the 60 m with a time of 7.65...Placed second and broke her PR in the 400m at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational with a time of 55.67....Finished in third at the Husker Quad in the 200 m and the 400 m with times of 24.38 and 55.18, setting two personal records...Took third place in the 200 m dash and the 400 m dash at the Hawkeye B1G Invitational with respective times of 24.44 and 54.48...Her 400 m time added her to eighth place in school history in the event.

Next Up

The Illinois track and field team will have a weekend off in preparation for hosting the B1G Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 14-16 at Demirjian Park in Champaign, Ill.

For complete coverage of Fighting Track & Field, visit FightingIllini.com, follow the Illini on Twitter (@IlliniTrackXC) and Instagram (illinitrackxc) and like Fighting Illini Track and Field & Cross Country on Facebook.