This past weekend, the Illinois men’s track and field team competed in the Big Ten Championships in Geneva, Ohio.

As a team, the Illini did not fare too well — taking ninth place out of the 12 teams competing.

But, there was one bright spot for the Illini. Jonathan Wells took first place overall in the high jump — clearing five bars and finally hitting 7-1 1/2 inches to defeat Indiana high jumpers Treyton Harris and Paul Galas.

Wells’ score was good enough to get him first place, but was just short of his all-time best at 7-2 1/2 inches, which he attempted but was unable to reach.

“It’s been a long time coming for him to win a conference title,” head coach Mike Turk said in a press release. “He’s been so close and he’s worked hard for it. It’s his turn and his time for that. He showed tremendous growth today with how he handled the competition.”

This was Wells’ first career Big Ten title.

Despite Wells’ title, the Illini didn’t capitalize, scoring just 12 times in the competition — leading to 51.5 team points.

Sprinter David Kendziera ran the second fastest 60-meter hurdles time in Illini history (7.69 seconds), but that was still only good enough for second place — falling  to Iowa’s Aaron Mallett. Mallett finished in 7.63 seconds.

Indiana went on to win the event with a score of 112, 28 points ahead of its closest competitor.

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