Results

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -  The Illinois Fighting Illini men's and women's track and field teams performed well at the Big Ten North Florida Invite this weekend in Jacksonville, Fla. Every Big Ten school was represented at this meet, making it one of the larger meets before the Big Ten Championships hosted by Illinois at Demirjian Park on May 14-16. Highlighted by three individual event champions, Illinois showcased a solid performance and success across the board in both track and field events.

"We had a great meet," Director of Track and Field Mike Turk said. "We competed very well against the entire conference. Especially for Florida, the weather just didn't cooperate for us to get some of the marks on paper I know we are capable of, but we competed very well against the best in the Big Ten. We had many lifetime best performances in spite of the windy conditions."

The main story during Friday's events was the return of senior Jonathan Wells. The six time All-American participated in his first meet in the Orange and Blue since the 2019-20 indoor season, and as expected had great success. He finished in first place in both the high jump and the long jump. In the high jump, he cleared 7-1 ft. to take the gold and in the long jump his best leap totaled 25-7 ½ ft. to secure the win.

"It's been a long wait," Turk added. "Obviously, with two event wins he had a dominant performance, but the impact his presence and leadership had on others was impactful as well."

Sophomore Olivia Howell added to her decorated year with an event title in the women's 800m invite. Howell ran a 2:09.55, narrowly taking first by four tenths of a second. Teammate Tracy Towns placed fourth in the same event, running a speedy 2:11.11 of her own.

"Olivia, once again showed she has the skill, focus and competitiveness to run with anyone," Turk commented about his star runner. "She continues to shine."

Junior Ayah Aldadah made a strong impression in her first outdoor track meet as an Illini, placing second in the women's 3000m steeplechase. Her time of 10:34.67 was good enough for the silver and the ninth fastest time in the event in school history. This time also sets a new personal best for Aldadah, replacing her previous best set at the MVC Championships when she was a member of the Bradley University track team.

Sophomore Robert Williams placed fourth in the men's 400m hurdles on Friday night with a time of 53.09 to add to a long list of high placements for the Illini.

Illinois concluded the day with a third-place finish in the men's hammer throw from Manning Plater. After an illustrious winter season Illini debut, this was Plater's first outdoor meet wearing the Orange and Blue. His furthest throw reached 208-5 ft.

Saturday's events featured a collection of strong finishes from the Illinois relay teams. The women's 4x100 m relay of Amira Aduma, Nya Carr, Nicole Nguyen and Jessica McDowell placed third with a time of 45.81. The women's 4x800 m relay of Olivia Howell, Tracy Towns, Madison Marasco and Mikaela Lucki took second with a time of 8:57.56.

McDowell also added a fifth-place finish in the women's 200m invite final, running in 24.07, a personal best.

The men's 4x400 m relay team of Kashief King, Robert Williams, Jason Thormo and Aman Thornton took third place to conclude the day and the meet for the Illini. Their time was 3:11.41.

"It was a really fun early season meet," Turk said about the Big Ten North Florida Invite. "I wish we would have events like this more often. The student athletes are getting a more in-depth look at their conference rivals. I see some developing friendly rivalries. I see more student athletes from all the conference schools interacting with each other more than usual. There are great people on this team and in this conference and I love seeing them interact with each other."

Next Up

Next weekend the Illinois track and field team will travel back to Bloomington, Ind. to participate in the Big Ten Invite #2 hosted by Indiana. Action will span from Friday, April 9 to Saturday, April 10.

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