The men’s track team will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Illinois is competing in three events: the 800-meter, the 4×400-meter relay and the long jump.

The team’s goal going into the meet is to place as many athletes as possible in the top eight of their event, thus earning All-American honors and team points, head coach Wayne Angel said.

Sophomore Zach Glavash is Illinois’ best chance to score. Glavash, the Illini’s only automatic qualifier, is seeded eighth overall with just 1.44 seconds separating him from the No. 1 seed, but Angel said he isn’t relying on the runner.

“I wouldn’t put that pressure on him,” Angel said. “If he gets himself in position, he’ll do well, but I won’t say that I expect him to win. This is his first time at the tournament, and that’s a lot of pressure for anybody. If he can place in the top five, that’s an accomplishment in itself.”

The 4×400-meter relay of sophomore Nathan Vadeboncouer and juniors Abe Jones, Adrian Walker and Tra Smith are ranked 11th in a field of 11, but Angel said his hopes are high for them.

“The mile relay hasn’t really been tested yet, but they’ll get an opportunity this week,” Angel said. “It’ll be interesting to see what they can do.”

The third qualifier is freshman Nick Brown, who added four inches to his career best in the long jump at last weekend’s meet at Notre Dame. Angel said this could be a good indication of things to come for Brown.

“Nick is on the verge of great things in the long jump,” Angel said.

The Illini will rely on luck, preparation and execution this weekend in hopes of accomplishing their goals.

“Realistically we can be in the top five of any event that we’re in,” Angel said. “We’re just hoping that the chips fall our way and things turn out the way we hope them to. We’ve trained hard, and we’ve done everything we needed to do. Now, with a little bit of luck and the proper execution, we can take care of business.”