CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A trio of Illinois track and field student-athletes are set to compete against the nation's best at the 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama on March 11-12. Graduate student Jon Davis and junior Olivia Howell will compete in the men's and women's mile race, respectively, while junior Tyler Sudduth will represent the Illini in the men's shot put.

Competition kicks off on Friday with the men's mile semifinals at 4 p.m. CT and the women's mile semifinals at 7 p.m. CT. The finals for both mile races are slated for the same time on Saturday (4 & 7 p.m. CT), with shot put prelims and finals also beginning at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday.

Follow the Action
Live results will be available through the NCAA website HERE and Illini fans can follow the action on @IlliniTrackXC on Twitter.

ESPN3 will stream the championships live starting at 10 a.m. CT on Friday, March 11 and starting at 10:30 a.m. CT on Saturday, March 12. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 8:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 13 on ESPNU.

Last Time Out
Illinois put a show in the mile race at the 2022 Big Ten Indoor Championships on February 25-26 in the SPIRE Institute. Howell had a dominating performance in the women's mile to become the back-to-back Big Ten Indoor Champion with a time of 4:33.78 after also taking home the title a season ago. Davis then gave the Illini the sweep as he earned the men's mile conference title with a time of 4:08.37, becoming the first Illinois champion in the event since Mike Durkin in 1975. Sudduth added a seventh-place finish in the men's shot put with a throw of 18.89m.  

Championship Notes

• The mile race will consist of two eight-athlete semifinal races, with the top four from each heat plus the next two best times advancing to Saturday's final. There are also 16 athletes that qualified for the men's shot put.
• The top eight performers at the Championships will be awarded USTFCCCA First-Team All-American Honors, with the ninth through 16th place finishers earning Second-Team Honors.
• All three Illini qualified by virtue of finishing the 2022 indoor season among the top-16 student-athletes declared to compete in their respective events. Howell and Sudduth will be making their NCAA Indoor Championships debut, while Davis will be making his third appearance at the event after placing 15th in the men's 3k in 2018 and helping the Illini's distance medley relay to a 12th place finish in 2019.  
• All three Illini registered their qualifying marks at the Indoor Music City Challenge on February 11-12 in Nashville, with Howell setting a new school for the third-straight week with the ninth-best mile time this season and a personal-best of 4:33.75 to win the event. Davis also broke his own school record from 2019 with a time of 3:54.59 to place third in the men's mile event, with his time coming as the fifth-best time this season in the NCAA. Sudduth then earned a second-place finish with a personal record mark of 19.59m in the men's shot put. It was the 15th best throw in the NCAA in 2022 and the second-best throw in program history.

Next Up
With the completion of the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Illini track and field team will set its sights on the 2022 outdoor season, with Illinois opening outdoor competition at the Ole Mis Classic on March 25-26 in Oxford, Mississippi.  

For more Fighting Illini Track & Field news, stay tuned to FightingIllini.com and follow @IlliniTrackXC on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook.