The men’s track team will head to South Bend, Ind., this weekend for the Alex Wilson Last Chance Invite. The meet is just what it sounds like: the last chance for the team to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11.

Sophomore Zach Glavash is the only Illini runner to automatically qualify for the national championship meet. Hopes are high for Glavash; just last weekend at the Big Ten Championships, he ran the 600m in 1:16.97, the fastest time in the country this year.

But this weekend, Glavash’s focus will not be on a national title. In the distance medley relay, Glavash will try and help juniors Adrian Walker, Tramell Smith and Tim Hobbs improve upon their provisionally qualifying time of 9:39.19. The distance medley relay is currently ranked ninth in the country, but because it has not automatically qualified for the event, a spot at the national championship is not guaranteed. The DMR ran the fourth-fastest time in school history at the Cyclone Classic on Feb. 11.

Going into the weekend, the mile relay is ranked 12th, with only 14 teams able to compete March 11. Sophomore Nathan Vadeboncoeur and juniors Abe Jones, Walker and Smith will try to move in the rankings and guarantee themselves a spot at nationals.

“I know with Tramell Smith, there’s no doubt he could make the nationals, but his goal is to help the distance relay and the mile relay,” head coach Wayne Angel said. “We want to make sure we get those relays qualified. With him on that, we have a really good shot at doing that. If those teams go to nationals and are All-Americans, then we’ve accomplished our goal.”

Junior Steve Weatherford will most likely join Glavash next weekend. He had a strong showing last weekend at the Big Ten Championship, breaking the school record in the heptathlon, scoring 5365 points and taking third place.

Angel will run senior Aaron King and sophomore Jeremy Kruidenier in the 800m in hopes of qualifying a couple more runners for individual events.

Freshman Nick Brown will also compete in the long jump and triple jump. Brown is 23rd and 24th in those events, but needs to move into the top 16 in order to have a shot at qualifying.

“Our goal is to go the Last Chance (Invite), get these guys qualified and then go to nationals and get some All-Americans,” Angel said.