The men’s track team wrapped up action in Des Moines, Iowa at the Drake Relays over the weekend, winning three titles. Illinois increased its number of Drake Relays titles to 131 overall – the most meet titles by any school.

Going into the meet, Illinois’ goal was to take home six Drake Relays titles. Junior Andre English had a sore hamstring and sat out the entire meet.

“If we ran him (English), we would have had a very good chance at the shuttle hurdle relay and more than likely would have done well in some other events,” said head coach Wayne Angel. “I feel that we would have had at least five titles.”

Illinois had a rough start to the meet on Friday when sophomore All-American Zach Glavash was pushed to the ground in the leadoff leg of the 4×800-meter relay. The Illini would have had a good chance to win the event and increase the total number of titles to four.

Junior Abe Jones had a big weekend in Des Moines, winning the only individual title for the Illini in the 400-meter hurdles and also taking part in the first-place distance medley relay (DMR) and sprint medley relay.

“He had a phenomenal meet,” Angel said. “I don’t know why he didn’t get athlete of the meet.”

In the DMR, Jones, sophomores Zach Glavash and Jeremy Kruidenier and junior Tim Hobbs won the event in 9:40.80. Minnesota tried to close in on Illinois, but Hobbs held off Minnesota junior Erik Grumstrup for the title.

The last time Illinois won a Drake Relays title was in 2002, when Hobbs was a freshman and helped the sprint medley relay take first.

In another close race, Illinois beat Iowa State for the sprint medley relay title. Jones, sophomore Nathan Vadeboncoeur and juniors Adrian Walker and Tra Smith won the event in a time of 3:16.05.

Jones continued his stellar performance at the Drake Relays by taking second in the 110-meter dash, running it in a personal best time of 14.02.

Walker took second place in the 400-meter hurdles right behind Jones. Walker ran the event in 51.68, while Jones was able to take the title in a time of 50.81. The individual title by Jones was Illinois’ 60th individual title and 131st overall, both Drake Relays records.

Freshman Nick Brown placed seventh in the triple jump, setting a new personal best mark of 15.3 meters. Of the six athletes finishing ahead of Brown, five were either juniors or seniors. Brown was one of only two freshmen who placed in the top 10.

The Illini will continue their season at the Big Ten Championships on May 13 in Columbus, Ohio. During the indoor season, Illinois finished in third place, less than 10 points behind second-place finisher Indiana.

“We’re very excited, but more importantly, we’re very focused,” Angel said. “We have an opportunity in the top three. If everyone stays healthy and everyone competes to the level they can, I think we can have an exciting ending at the Big Ten Championship.”