CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 1 women's and No. 18 men's track and field teams are set for the Big Ten Indoor Championships in Indianapolis on Thursday-Saturday (Feb. 26-28).
The women's squad has remained as the number one team in the nation from the start of the season with their sights set on another Big Ten Indoor Championship title. Last season they came up just short in second place while the year prior in 2024 they won the program's first Big Ten Indoor Championships since 2013.
If they do win, it would be the best three-year stretch in program history since 1994-96 when they also had two team titles and one runner-up finish (second in 1994, champions in 1995 and 1996).
The men's team aims to build on their 10th-place finish at the conference meet last season which saw Viktor Morozov take bronze in the triple jump. The Illini men are currently ranked No. 4 in the Big Ten which if they were to finish in fourth this weekend it would be their highest finish at the conference meet in over a decade when they took second in 2015.
PROJECTED NATIONAL QUALIFIERS (TOP-16 MARKS QUALIFY TO NCAA'S)
WOMEN
#1 Sophia Beckmon – long jump, 6.85m (22-5 3/4)
#2 Lucie Kienast – pentathlon, 4,337*
#2 Rose Yeboah – high jump, 1.94m (6-4 1/4)
#3 Jordan Koskondy – weight throw, 23.59m (77-4 3/4)
#4 Mercy Honesty – triple jump, 13.52m (44-4 1/4)
#4 Elizabeth Ndudi – long jump, 6.63m (21-9)
#4 Phethisang Makhethe – weight throw, 23.39m (76-8 3/4)
#5 Romi Tamir – triple jump, 13.50m (44-3 1/2)
#6 JaiCieonna Gero-Holt – high jump, 1.88m (6-2)
#7 JaiCieonna Gero-Holt – pentathlon, 4,250*
#7 Mia Morello – pole vault, 4.50m (14-9)
#9 Katharina Graman – triple jump, 13.40m (43-11 3/4)
#11 Meagan Humphries – pentathlon, 4,197
#12 Oluwatomilayo Akintunde – weight throw, 22.06m (72-4 1/2)
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MEN
#3 Luuk Pelkmans – heptathlon, 6,151*
#5 Jip de Greef – heptathlon, 6,019*
#6 Cody Johnston – pole vault, 5.70m (18-8 1/4)
#6 Zavien Wolfe – triple jump, 16.46m (54-0)
#15 Viktor Morozov – triple jump, 16.10m (52-10)
On the bubble
#18 Kennedy Ocansey – high jump, 2.18m (7-1 3/4)
*- Converted score for flat track
