The 2022 indoor track & field season is officially over after juniors Olivia Howell, Tyler Sudduth and graduate student Jon Davis competed in the NCAA Championship indoor meet in Birmingham, Alabama.

Day one at the Birmingham Crossplex saw both Davis and Howell competing in their heats for the mile, which saw both qualify for the semifinals of the race.

Davis raced the fastest time of the day, running the mile at a blistering pace of 3:57. That wasn’t as fast as any of the 16 participants’ personal records during the season, showing that they were all saving more energy for day two.

Howell also performed much better than her initial seeding in the day one heat, where she placed top four in her race after being seeded ninth. However, once again, it was clear that the runners were saving themselves for Saturday, where they would all attempt to run their fastest times ever.

Sudduth did not have a preliminary competition, allowing him to be fully rested for his shot put on Saturday night.

On day two, Davis surpassed his fifth seed coming into the weekend with a fourth-place finish in the men’s mile with a time of 4:07. With this achievement comes First-Team All-American honors that Davis can add with his Big Ten accolades this season, capping off a terrific final indoor season for the graduate student.             

Howell continued the Illini’s solid performance in the women’s mile as she placed fifth with a time of 4:36. This finish was much better than her seeding coming into the meet and earned her a spot with Davis as a First-Team All-American.

This is Howell’s second career All-American nod, and she still has four seasons of running left in college to build on her already-impressive resume.

Finishing off the meet for the Illini was Tyler Sudduth with a throw of 18.68m in the shot put. This performance was good enough for 15th place and earned Sudduth Second-Team All-American honors.

Men’s shot put was highly competitive all season long, but Sudduth ended the season with a lot of momentum heading into the outdoor season and can only build off of this final meet performance.

ESPN will broadcast re-airs of this championship meet throughout the week, and overall results can be found on the NCAA website.

The Illini will now move on to the 2022 Outdoor season. They will travel to Oxford, Mississippi, in the Ole Miss Classic on March 25 and 26 for their first meet of the new season and will work to continue the progression shown during the indoor season.

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