University of Illinois
Fighting Illini Challenge and Combined Events
Illinois Track and Field Returns to the Armory
January 19, 2026 | Women's Track & Field, Men's Track & Field
PREVIEW
| Fighting Illini Challenge and Combined Events | |
|---|---|
| Date | Thursday-Saturday, January 22-24 |
| Times (CT) | Thursday (12 PM) // Friday (11:30 AM) // Saturday (Field-10 AM I Track 12 PM) |
| Location | UI Armory, Champaign, Ill. |
| Watch | Day 1 I Day 2 I Day 3 |
| Meet Information | Live Results I Meet Schedule |
| Shop | Fighting Illini Store |
| Social Media | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois men's and women's track and field teams are ready for their second home meet of the season, the Fighting Illini Challenge and Combined Events, on Thursday-Saturday (Jan. 22-24) in the UI Armory. National track broadcast RunnerSpace will be covering the meet in its entirety all three days.
It will be International and Field Trip Day in the UI Armory on Friday (Jan. 23) where Illinois will recognize our diverse track and field team with athletes representing over 15 different countries around the world. A few local schools around the area will be in attendance as well where they will get to interact with the athletes and learn about their native countries around the globe as well. Tom Grassman Band will be playing live music for fans throughout the meet on Saturday (Jan. 24).
There are five new faces in the combined events room for the Illini who will make their debuts this weekend including: JaiCieonna Gero-Holt, Andreas Hanston, Meagan Humphries, Luuk Pelkmans, and Tim Pelkmans.
The first half of the men's heptathlon starts on Thursday at noon while the women's pentathlon begins on Friday at 11:30 a.m. and the final half of the heptathlon resumes at noon on Friday as well.
This past weekend the Orange and Blue competed at the Hoosier Horsepower Classic at the Fall Creek Pavilion in Indianapolis which is the host site for the Big Ten Indoor Championships. There were five top 10 program marks set there with the most notable being from high jumper Kennedy Ocansey. In his Illini debut he cleared 2.18m (7-1 3/4) which is the fourth-best mark in program history, but most notably it's the seventh-best mark in the nation so far which has him in qualifying position for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
