Hawkeyes best men’s track in rare dual match

By Kevin Kaplan

Fighting Illini men’s track and field head coach Wayne Angel enjoys dual meets, and the team’s Saturday contest against Iowa was one dual he had been pushing to hold.

“Dual meets are good for track and field, as everybody wants to know the final score,” Angel said in the days leading up to the meet. “They went away for awhile, but we are trying to help bring them back.”

While the point total on Saturday favored the Hawkeyes, 92-77, the Illini found plenty of positive things to take with them as they continued the indoor season. The first match in what is scheduled to be an annual meeting between the Illini and Hawkeyes proved competitive, as the Illini’s efforts were highlighted by six first-place finishes.

The first came in the 400m, as senior Gakolegelwang Masheto did not run in his signature event, leaving teammate and fellow senior Yawusa Kinda to take first place with a time of 48 and 7.1 tenths-seconds.

Masheto instead ran the 800m, where a time of 1:53.36 placed him third behind junior Brian Beaird (1:53.33) and Iowa’s Adam Hairston (1:52.27).

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A Botswana native, Masheto is now joined on the Illinois roster by two other highly-touted international athletes, as freshmen Andrew Riley of Jamaica and Hendrik Maartens of South Africa each managed to impress in their debut for the Illini.

Riley placed second in the 60m hurdles (8.38), edging out teammate Cody Wisslead by a hundredth of a second.

Maartens ran the first leg of the Illini’s first place 4x400m relay (3:14.64), which also consisted of Masheto, junior Gary Miller and Kinda. Of those four, Miller and Kinda each added individual first place finishes; Miller in the 600m (1:20.71) and Kinda in the 400m.

The Illini managed to win a long-distance event as well. Though failing to place in the top three in any of the individual long-distance events, the Illini benefited by the combination of freshman Graham Farnsworth, sophomore Dan Jones, Beaird and sophomore Mike Murray. The four placed first in the distance medley (10:38.66), edging out Iowa by nearly 17 seconds.

Juniors Casey Fonnesbeck and Azeez Shogbuyi rounded out the team’s first place finishes; Fonnesbeck in the weight throw with a personal-best 55-0 ¬ (16.77m) and Shogbuyi in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 22-11 (6.98m).

The Illini next head to the two-day Kentucky Invitational on Jan. 16-17.