Relay highlights meet NCAA

By Chris Cook

The Illini women’s track and field team was back on the road this weekend to compete in the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame. Although the overall performance was not as dominating as in the Illini’s first three meets of the season, the team recorded a number of good results.

Junior Yvonne Mensah, who was recently named Big Ten athlete of the week, won the 300 meter dash with a time of 39.12. Fellow junior Camile Robinson finished with a time of 39.95, while sophomore Tiara Armstrong came in fifth with a 40.20.

Armstrong was satisfied with both her own and the team’s performance.

“I don’t think anybody was unhappy with how they ran this weekend,” Armstrong said. “There’s always room for improvement and I thought my time could have been a little better, but I think we did pretty well overall.”

Junior Carlene Robinson also had a terrific individual performance as she won the 500 meter dash with a time of 1:12.52. Ugiagbe and freshman Pam Wolf both recorded times of 1:14.42 and tied for fourth.

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Elsewhere, Illinois had solid outings in the triple jump event where junior Kristina Jones and senior Nina Henson placed in third and fourth with jumps of 12.48 and 12.45 meters respectively.

Along with Camile Robinson, Carlene Robinson and freshman Omoye Ugiagbe, Mensah was part of the 4×400 meter relay team which took second place with a time of 3:39.76, good enough to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships. It was the first time the four runners were together on the relay team.

“That was huge, and I know we have a lot more in us,” Mensah said. “I think this is a combination we’ll use a lot in the future.”