Sprinting has always been the biggest strength of this year’s Illinois men’s track and field team.

After the performance of freshman Stanley Azie at Eastern Illinois’ Friday Night Special, Illinois sprinting gained a little more depth heading into next week’s Big Ten Indoor Championships.

Azie tallied a seventh-place finish in the 60-meter dash with a personal-best time of 6.94 seconds, placing him on the top-20 list of 60-meter dash runners in the Big Ten.

Last week Illinois head coach Wayne Angel said he would only take top-20 athletes in the Big Ten to the Indoor Championships. Azie was one of two athletes who responded on Friday.

“We saw some improvements and picked up a couple guys who can help us at the Big Ten Championships,” Angel said. “We accomplished what we needed to, with some guys responding in their last chance to impress.”

While Illinois posted solid performances in the sprinting events, they did not gain any ground in the area of distance.

Junior Jacob Nachel was the only Illini to reach the Big Ten top-20 in an individual race greater than one mile, and that did not change on Friday. But freshman Graham Farnsworth did take fourth in the 800 meters, running it in 1:56.23, while junior Garrett Weaver also had a fourth-place finish in the mile with a time of 4:25.83.

Freshman Roger Jones broke into the top-20 in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 22 feet, 5 3/4 inches, good enough for his own spot in the top-20.

Illinois has shown marked improvement in field events, with freshman Andrew Riley tallying a season-best high jump of 6 feet, 9 1/2 inches.

Junior Gary Miller is expecting great things out of Riley in the Big Ten Championships, as his impressive high jump only adds to an already impressive resume.

“At Big Ten I’m sure he’s a favorite in the 60-meter hurdles finals,” Miller said.

Miller had a good meet on Friday, taking the 600 meter title in a season-best performance (1:20.46).

After trailing Eastern Illinois’ David Holm for much of the race, Miller was able to overtake him in the last few meters and win by .1 seconds.

A small squad from the Illinois women’s track team joined the men at Eastern Illinois.

Their effort was highlighted by junior Aja Evans, whose shot put throw of 53-11 increased her season-best by more than a foot and a half. She has already provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships and is first in the Big Ten in the shot put.