The men’s track team edged out California-Berkeley for the win this weekend in its first dual meet of the year, adding eight athletes to its regional lineup and qualifying in ten events total.

With 16 regional qualifiers in the first two weekends of the outdoor season, the Illini have matched its total from all of last year. The team goal going into the season was 25 and head coach Wayne Angel said that is more than attainable.

Illinois started off the meet shaky, falling into a hole, but quickly dug itself out and finished strong.

In the 4x100m relay, junior Tony Young pulled a hamstring in the leadoff leg and the Illini were unable to finish the event. Cal dominated the throws behind solid performances from juniors Paul Teinert, Rhuben Williams and senior Tony Miranda. All three finished first in their events: javelin, hammer and shot put, and the discus.

But the Illini battled back with help from the sprinters, long distance runners and jumpers.

“That was a very exciting meet,” Angel said. “We were down by as many as 20 to 30 points. In the areas we failed, there were two or three athletes that stepped up and did what they had to do. Everybody did their share and more. It was a great team effort. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Junior Abe Jones and sophomore Nathan Vadeboncoeur accounted for four of the 10 qualifications for the Illini. Jones qualified in two events, the 110-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles, taking first place in both. Sophomore Nathan Vadeboncoeur also qualified in two events, winning the 200-meter in 21.02 and 400-meter in 46.63. Junior Adrian Walker joined Abe Jones in regionally qualifying in the 110-meter hurdles.

Freshman Nick Brown won the long and triple jump, regionally qualifying in the triple jump with a leap of 50.00.75 inches.

The Illini finished 1-2 in the 800-meter run. Sophomore All-American Zach Glavash took first in 1:48.47 followed closely by junior Tra Smith who finished in 1:48.85. Both of those times are in the top 10 in the country.

Maciej Sniegorski won the steeplechase in a regional qualifying time of 9:06.84.

The 4×400-meter relay of Vadeboncoeur and Jones, Adrian Walker and Tra Smith won the event with a regional qualifying time of 3:08.95.

The Illini are off until April 16, when they’ll travel to Mississippi and Tennessee for the Jace Lacoste Invitational and the Sea Ray Relays.

“We want to focus on getting stronger,” Angel said. “We’re going to concentrate on getting ready for the next meet, preparing ourselves to qualify more athletes for regionals and move up on the order in the events we have qualified in.”