Three Illini will be competing in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend. The crop includes senior heptathlete Aiden Ouimet, senior thrower Tyler Sudduth and junior jumper Kam Garrett.
Sudduth is the lone championship veteran of the group, having finished eighth in the weight throw last year with a toss of 22.06 meters. Sudduth has surpassed that mark at four meets this season, including in his recent Big Ten championship victory.
Sudduth earned the No. 7 seed at nationals due to his performance at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational, where he posted a 23.14-meter heave to set a program record. Sudduth will be competing against some familiar faces at nationals, including Alabama’s Ruben Banks. Banks beat Sudduth at the Tiger Paw Invitational this season with a 23.88-meter throw, which landed him the No. 2 seed.
Ouimet will make his indoor championship debut. Ouimet qualified for the outdoor championships last season in the decathlon and finished 16th.
This season, Ouimet captured the Big Ten heptathlon title with a program-record score of 6,120. Ouimet’s performance at the Big Ten championships also stands as a meet record and earned him the No. 2 seed for nationals.
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Texas’ Leo Neugebauer grabbed the No. 1 seed thanks to his 6,219-point showing at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic. Neugebauer finished third in the heptathlon at last season’s indoor championships and bested Ouimet and the field for gold in the decathlon at the outdoor championships.
Ouimet will also be facing off against some Big Ten competition in No. 3 seed Till Steinforth (Nebraska), No. 8 seed Austin West (Iowa) and No. 12 seed Heath Baldwin (Michigan State). West finished second to Ouimet at the Big Ten championships, while both Steinforth and Baldwin took the meet off.
Garrett transferred to Illinois after spending the last two seasons at Kansas State. In his first season with the Illini, Garrett matched the 44-year-old program high jump record with a 2.21-meter leap that earned him second at the Big Ten Championships and the No. 8 seed for nationals.
Nebraska’s Tyus Wilson secured first at the Big Ten championships with an identical 2.21-meter jump but is seeded at No. 11 for nationals. Garrett and Wilson will be the only Big Ten representatives at the meet. Reigning indoor high jump champion Romaine Beckford is the top-seeded competitor.
ESPN will broadcast the meet which takes place at The TRACK at New Balance in Boston. The men’s weight throw is the first event of the meet and starts Thursday at 5 p.m. CT. The heptathlon events will start with the 60-meter on Friday at 8:30 a.m. CT, and the high jump will take place on Saturday at noon CT.
