The Illinois women’s track and field team will look to continue its past success this weekend when it hosts the Illinois Invitational on Saturday at the Illinois Track and Soccer Complex. After earning eight regional qualifying marks at the Sea Relays last weekend, head coach Gary Winckler knows now is not the time for his team to lose its intensity. Although Winckler will change some things, it will be business as usual, he said.

“We’re going to work on some different events with some people,” Winckler said in a press release. “Some of our longer runners are going to do some shorter work in terms of speed development. This is basically how we approach the end of the season every year … We really aren’t resting anybody.”

While the Illini look to rely on their home-track advantage, they also will be using the meet to get ready for next weekend’s prestigious Drake Relays.

“We are going for better marks for some people, but for others we are going to focus on preparing for the Drake Relays,” Winckler said.”Each week we try to improve our marks from what we have done.”

On Saturday, the Illini will face Missouri Baptist, Saint Louis, Illinois State, Indiana State, Northern Illinois, Western Illinois and Southern Illinois, among others. The field events begin at 9 a.m., while the running events start at 11:30 a.m.

Mensah earns honor

Junior sprinter Yvonne Mensah earned her first outdoor weekly honon Tuesday when she was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week after grabbing four regional qualifying marks at the Sea Relays last weekend in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Illini posted eight regional qualifying marks on the weekend, with Mensah being part of four of them. Mensah personally qualified in the 100-meter dash with a personal best time of 11.40 seconds and in the triple jump with mark of 12.04 meters, which was good enough for first place. She was also part of the 4×100 meter relay and 4×400 meter relay, both of which earned regional qualifying times.

“Yvonne is quickly becoming one of the best athletes in terms of diversity that we’ve ever had,” Winckler said.