The men’s track team traveled to California and Florida this weekend for the Stanford Invitational and Florida Relays, signifying the start of the outdoor season. While the distance runners traveled to the West Coast for the Stanford Invitational, the sprinters and field athletes traveled to Florida.

In Palo Alto, Calif., the Illini qualified four athletes for the Mideast regional, with three of those times in the school’s top 10. Regional qualifiers compete in the NCAA Regional Championships on May 27 for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Sophomore Seth Pilkington ran the 5,000-meter in a regionally qualifying time of 13:57.57, which is the fourth best 5,000m time in school history. This was the first time Pilkington ran in the event. Sophomore Jason Bill finished right behind Pilkington, running the event in a regionally qualifying time of 14:01.08. Bill’s time was a personal best and moved him up to fifth on the all-time list.

Junior Jon Houseworth finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, running it in 8:55.85, which was good enough for eighth on the all-time list. Senior Kris Cunningham dropped 12 seconds off his previous personal best and finished fourth in the event. Both times qualified the runners for the Mideast regional on May 27.

In the second day of competition at the Stanford Invitational, junior Tim Hobbs battled a cold and finished second in his heat of the 1,500-meter with a personal best 3:47.22.

Because the team was competing in two different meets, coach Paul Pilkington traveled to California with the distance runners.

“Those guys (distance runners) did an outstanding job,” said head coach Wayne Angel who was coaching in Florida at the time. “Coach Pilkington did a great job, and he’s going to continue to do a super job. We’re looking at some great things down the road, especially at the Big Ten Championship.”

In Gainesville, Fla., the Illini fared well despite inclement weather that cancelled all events on the second day of competition.

On Friday, the sprint medley relay of sophomore Nathan Vadeboncoeur and juniors Andre English, Abe Jones and Zach Glavash won the event in 3:17.18, just a half a second off the meet record.

In the 4×200-meter relay, junior Adrian Walker, Jones, Vadeboncoeur and English took second, finishing in 1:25.34. Freshman Nick Brown, fresh off his first NCAA Indoor Championship meet, finished in third place in the long jump with a leap of 24’08.50″.

“Overall, opening up we’re very happy with the way things are going,” Angel said. “We’re very excited about the way the season looks. All the things that happened this weekend were very positive. We’ll just continue to prepare for a strong upcoming season.”