The No. 24 men’s track and field team broke one school record and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championship in five events this weekend at the ISU Classic in Ames, Iowa. The Iowa State Classic gave Illinois the opportunity to gauge their performance with other top-notch athletes from around the nation. It also served as the final test before Big Ten competition begins in two weeks.

The 4X400 relay team of seniors Abe Jones, Tramell Smith, Adrian Walker and Nathan Vadeboncoeur set a school record with a time of 3:07.41. This time earned them a second place finish overall and beat the previous Illinois record-relay time by .06 seconds.

Senior Abe Jones was pleased with the relay, but knew they could push themselves for a better time.

“It’s always good to know you broke a school record at this level,” Jones said, “but we always have to find ways to improve. I know our four pairs of legs can run faster.”

Jones, along with fellow 4X400 relay participant Vadeboncoeur, both recorded provisional qualifying times in the 400-meter dash. Jones placed ninth with a 47.02 and Vadeboncoeur used a season best time of 47.02 to place 11th.

“I ran a very good race,” Jones said, “It was a great learning experience. There were two Olympians and five top guys in the nation running that one race. It gave me more of an idea what nationals are going to be like.”

Sophomore Nick Brown led Illinois’ individual performers with a second place finish in the triple jump. Brown’s jump of 50’11” was a personal record and was enough for a provisional qualification.

“I know where I need to be coming into the Big Ten,” Brown said. “I scratched a 52 ft. jump, so I know I can improve.”

Senior Tramell Smith placed sixth in the 800-meter dash with a personal-best time of 1:48.20. This provisionally qualified Smith and placed him third on Illinois’ all-time best list for the 800.

Freshman Dominique Worsley led the Illini on the first day of the competition, posting a provisional qualifying time of 21.23 in the 200-meter dash. The time was a season-best in the 200 for Worsley, breaking his old time by .05 seconds.

Juniors Trent Hoerr and Maciej Sniegorski recorded personal bests in the 3,000-meter run. Hoerr placed in the top 10 with a time of 8:05.73, the second fastest 3,000 time in Illinois history. Sniegorski finished 11th with an 8:12.00 time.

Other notable finishes included seniors Andre English and Anthony Young who both successfully reached the semifinals in the 60-meter hurdles. English finished second in his heat and 12th overall with a provisional-qualifying time of 7.91, tying his personal best.

Head coach Wayne Angel was happy with his team’s performance on both days of the competition.

“I’m very pleased with Dominique,” Angel said. “He is getting a feel for the competition and starting to hit his stride. Down the road we will be seeing some very fast times from him.”

The team has two weeks to prepare for the Big Ten Indoor Championships before they head back to Ames, Iowa on Feb. 24.

“We were solid across the board and captured two provisional marks on the first day,” Angel said. “We also had a fantastic second day. I’m really proud of the effort given by the entire team. From the looks of it, we will be ready for the Big Ten.”