Men look to win Big Ten

Men look to win Big Ten

By Jonathan Leonard

The men’s track and field team heads to Iowa City, Iowa this weekend to compete in the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Last year the team finished third in the competition, but this year it hopes to dethrone Wisconsin by advancing as many athletes as possible to the finals.

“We hope to have as many people as we can in the finals so that we make a push toward the championship,” head coach Wayne Angel said. “I think we would be disappointed if we didn’t do any better than second place.”

Wisconsin is the defending champion three years running. It will face fierce competition this year from Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and Michigan.

Senior sprinter Tramell Smith currently leads the Big Ten in two events and hopes to perform well this weekend. He is also the only member of the Illini squad that posted an automatic qualifying time for the competition. His 1:16.50 in the 600-meter dash is currently the fastest time in the Big Ten. Smith also looks to defend his title in the 800-meter dash where his time of 1:48.02 is currently number one.

“As a team we have very high expectations for this weekend,” Smith said. “I’m running in three events and I would like to get three medals. We have been working hard and running well as a team all season long; this weekend is no different.”

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Freshman sprinter Dominique Worsley currently holds second best-finishes in the 60-meter dash with a 6.75 and in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.23.

“He has a great shot at doing some good things in the 200-meters as well as the 60-meters,” Angel said. “He is young right now, but I think he has the talent to give us the help we need to make things happen in the Big Ten.”

The men are also looking forward to big finishes in the 400-meter run from seniors Abe Jones, Nathan Vadeboncoeur and Adrian Walker. These three all hold top 10 times in the Big Ten conference.

Senior Tim Hobbs and junior Trent Hoerr have led the Illini distance team this season and will continue to do so at this weekend’s championships. Hobbs has the fastest 1,000-meter time in the conference at 2:25.28. Hoerr looks to do well in the 3,000 and 5,000m races with top-10 times in both. Hoerr provisionally qualified in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:03.36, the fourth all-time best performance in Illinois history.

Angel said the DMR, distance medley relay, has a great shot at moving up from their third-place finish at last year’s Big Ten Indoor Championships. Illinois’ relay currently holds the top time in the conference with a mark of 9:43.04.

Along with the DMR, the Illini 4×400-meter relay team of Jones, Smith, Walker and Vadeboncoeur looks to capture their second consecutive indoor title. The group’s best time of 3:07.41 is over three seconds faster than any other relay in the conference and currently ranked as the nation’s sixth fastest relay by Trackwire.com.

“Our expectations are to be, at the end of the day on Sunday, in a position to win a Big Ten Champonship,” Angel said.