In spite of 42-degree weather and falling snow, the men’s track team easily beat the competition this weekend at the Central Collegiate Championship in Champaign.

The Fighting Illini beat the second place team, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, by over 100 points. Illinois finished with 218 points while Wisconsin-Milwaukee took second with 103 points. Illinois State, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and DePaul rounded out the teams finishing in the top five.

“The thing I was most proud of was the fact that these guys didn’t let the conditions control them,” said head coach Wayne Angel.

Illinois also earned several honors by the end of the meet.

Junior Andre English was named Most Outstanding Athlete of the meet after winning two individual events: the 100-meters in a time of 10.52 and the 100-meter high hurdles in 14.01. English also helped junior Abe Jones, sophomore Nathan Vadeboncoeur and freshman Pierre Bush win the 4×100-meter relay in 41.41.

Second-year head coach Angel was named the Central Collegiate Coach of the Year for the second time this year. Angel was also named Coach of the Year at the Central Collegiate Championship during the indoor track season.

Senior Josh Fournier became the 21st regional qualifier for the Illini this season in the long jump, winning the event with a mark of 21-feet 1.75-inches.

Illinois won nine of the meet’s twenty events. English accounted for two individual titles and was the first leg in the first place 4×100-meter relay. Junior Jon Houseworth outlasted the competition to win the steeplechase in 9:24.89.

Freshman Trent Hoerr won the 5,000-meters by more than twenty seconds, finishing the event in 14:50.78. Freshman John Adamczyk won the pole vault.

Fournier won the long jump, while freshman Nick Brown took second and won the triple jump. Freshman Brian Brodeur won the 1,500-meters in 4:09.07.

Sophomore Jeremy Majors of Wisconsin-Milwaukee finished just ahead of sophomore All-American Zach Glavash in the 400-meter dash. Majors finished the event in a time of 49.16 while Glavash crossed the finish line just .03 seconds slower.

Angel said it wasn’t the individual awards or first place finishes that made him pleased, but it was the team’s positive attitude towards the weather that impressed him.

“It was basically a mental thing, and they (the Illinois athletes) won the battle of the minds,” Angel said. “That’s one of the things we’ve been focusing on all year: to become mentally tough. That’s one of the hallmarks of Illinois track. They don’t whine, they don’t bellyache, they just get out there and run. That’s what it’s going to take to win a Big Ten Championship.”