The Illinois women’s track and field team headed to Lawrence, Kan., for the Kansas Relays. The Illini triumphed in the 80th running of the event, winning the Outstanding Women’s Team of the Meet award.

Ashley Whittaker broke the Illini record in the pole vault with a regional-qualifying height of 12 feet, 5 1/2 inches. Nikkita Holder ran a personal best time in 100-meter hurdles, 13.44 seconds to also qualify for regionals.

Yvonne Mensah and Tiara Armstrong ran 11.41 and 11.60 seconds that placed the women in third and sixth, respectively, in the 100-meter dash. Omoye Ugiagbe ran a personal best in the 400-meter dash of 54.44 seconds. Briana Cunningham ran a personal best time in the 400-meter hurdles of 59.77 seconds. The distance medley relay team of Katie Engel, Alondra Cooper, Rachel Hernandez and Angela Bizzarri won the event with a time of 11:51.42 seconds.

“That was the number one goal (for the distance medley team), to go in and win that relay,” assistant coach Karen Harvey said. “We didn’t have too much competition. Katie Engel gave us a big lead, so it was basically just against time. Sometimes it’s hard to compete on your own, and when you’re so far ahead, it’s hard to push yourself.”

Junior LaNeisha Waller ran a personal best, 13.25 seconds, in the 100-meter hurdles.

Waller’s performance would have placed her first in most fields, but the meet featured a handful of Olympians. The invitational 100-meter hurdles featured three: Pricella Lopes, Nadine Faustin and 2004 gold medalist Joanna Hayes. Waller also ran in the 4×100-meter relay.

The relay team also faced a team composed of elite athletes and finished second, with the team’s season-best time of 45.09 seconds.

“I hope that it can do good things for their confidence,” head coach Gary Winckler said. “It’s great to run against that kind of competition when you’re ready for it, and we have some individuals who were ready. It should just help them as they hopefully get to the national level this year.”

The all-around effort from the team was critical for it to earn the honor of Outstanding Women’s Team of the Meet.

The team had five personal bests and two season bests, along with numerous regional qualifying times, heights and distances. The team had the good fortune of having “ideal” weather conditions, as Winckler said.

Although the team had a strenuous past few weeks, the work paid off greatly over the weekend.

“Every event showed up and ran hard,” assistant coach Tonja Buford-Bailey said. “We had some problems the first day, but we recovered. The young ladies went out with goals in the individual events and in the relays and worked together.”

The team will hold practice throughout the week before heading to Berkeley, Calif., for the California Collegiate Challenge, which begins on Friday.