OXFORD, Miss. – The Illinois men's and women's track and field teams opened its 2022 outdoor season with the Ole Miss Classic at the Ole Miss Track & Field Complex on Friday and Saturday (March 25-26), with the Illini registering 34 top five finishes, including seven event champions, and 14 student-athletes posting personal best performances.
"We accomplished what we wanted to this weekend," said head coach Mike Turk. "The top priorities for this weekend were to get our outdoor only events going like the discus, 400 hurdles, steeplechase and of course the 4x100m relays. In addition, it is also the first competition in a month so we were excited to get back out there."
"Some of those outdoor events were really good. I am especially encouraged by the performances of the 4x100 relays. We executed safe passes and ran for win on the men's side and a very close finish for the women. Then, we capped off the meet winning both of the 4x400 relays. Considering the competition and early spring weather, we had a solid weekend and definitely have an opportunity to continue to improve over the next four-to-five weeks leading up to the Big Ten Championships."
Junior Jessica McDowell kicked off the Illini event champions with her second 400m win of the season with a time of 53.24, with classmate Danni Stoughton putting up a personal-best time of 55.94 to place third in the event.
Junior Tracy Towns earned her first win of the season with a time of 2:10.23 to take the women's 800m, with freshman Sam Poglitsch joining her in the top three with a third-place finish after posting a time of 2:13.09.
Freshman Tori Thomas continued her strong showing in the women's pole vault with a first-place finish after posting a mark of 4.00m in the event.
Another rookie had another impressive performance on the day as freshman DeVontae Ford earned his first individual win of the season with a time of 52.43 in the men's 400m hurdles, while the Illini had three of the top four finishers in the event as junior Robert Williams (52.61) and senior Jaden Jackson (54.11) placed second and third, respectively.
The Illini women took five of the top six spots in the women's 2000m steeplechase with Poglitsch (6:48.59) and freshman Amalia Malecek (6:51.98) placed second and third, with junior Katie Hohe (7:04.56) in fourth, freshman Maggie Gamboa (7:04.60) in fifth and redshirt-junior Madison Marasco (7:11.31) in sixth.
A number of Illini also earned runner-up finishes in their events, including freshman Edwin Siuda (6:10.47) in the men's steeplechase, senior Bret Dannis (10.66) in the men's 100m, freshman Logan Neely (1:02.24) in the women's 400m hurdles, freshman Tacoria Humphrey (24.41) in the women's 200m and junior Eddie Lennon (8:29.31) in the men's 3000m.
The Illini continued their stand out performances in the relays as the men's 4x100 relay team of senior Declan Rustay, freshman Dacorey Ware, Dannis and Ford took home first place with a time of 40.51, while the women's 4x100 quartet of senior Nya Carr, McDowell, Humphrey and Thomas placed second with a time of 45.98.
The day then ended with Illinois sweeping the 4x400 relays as freshman Mia Abraham, Neely, McDowell and Stoughton finished in a time of 3:42.94, while the men – including Williams, junior Jason Thormo, redshirt-junior Kashief King and Ford – took first with a time of 3:12.57.
Illinois Event Champions
Women's 400m: Jessica McDowell // 53.24
Men's 400m hurdles: DeVontae Ford // 52.43
Women's 800m: Tracy Towns // 2:10.23
Women's Pole Vault: Tori Thomas // 4.00m
Men's 4x100: Declan Rustay, Dacorey Ware, Bret Dannis, DeVontae Ford // 40.51
Men's 4x400: Robert Williams, Jason Thormo, Kashief King, DeVontae Ford // 3:12.57
Women's 4x400: Mia Abraham, Logan Neely, Jessica McDowell, Danni Stoughton // 3:42.94
Personal Bests
Women's 200m
Tacoria Humphrey » 24.41
Nya Carr » 24.69
Nicole Nguyen » 25.41
Women's 400m
Danni Stoughton » 55.94
Women's 400m hurdles
Kionnah Weaver » 1:03.34
Men's 200m
Dacorey Ware » 21.45
Men's 800m
William Merrick » 1:51.74
Edwin Siuda » 1:57.86
Men's 3000m
Eddie Lennon » 8:29.31
Ben Giblin » 8:33.22
Men's 110 hurdles
Aiden Ouimet » 15.31
Men's Discus
Michael Shafis » 38.12m
Aiden Ouimet » 34.06
Men's Javelin
Michael Shafis » 47.47m
Next Up
Illinois next sends groups to the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif., as well as the Redbird Invite in Normal, Ill., with both meets being held on April 1-2.
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