In his first indoor season at Illinois this winter, junior Kam Garrett equaled the 40-year-old program high jump record and earned himself a trip to the national championships.
Now, as the weather turns and the outdoor season is underway, Garrett is picking up right where he left off.
In his first high jump appearance of the season at this weekend’s Florida Relays, Garrett recorded a height of 2.16 meters, which is the fourth-highest mark in program history. Garrett is also tied for 12th on the national leaderboard. Despite this, his leap was only good enough for fourth overall at the meet against some tough competition.
Garrett was not the only one to enter the record books. Freshman pole-vaulter Cody Johnston was recently named Big Ten Men’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week for his performance at the Hurricane Invitational two weeks ago, where he reached a height of 5.50 meters, third in the nation at the time.
This weekend, Johnston bested himself by ten centimeters as he soared 5.60 meters off the ground, placing first for the second-straight meet with the third-best height in program history.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Seniors Tyler Sudduth and Will Rezny performed admirably in the shot put, with Sudduth taking third at the meet with an 18.84-meter throw, and Rezny placing seventh thanks to a personal-best heave of 18.32 meters.
Freshman Michail Rose qualified for the 110-meter hurdle finals after finishing eighth (14.24s) in the prelims. Senior Aiden Ouimet just missed the finals after taking 11th with a personal-best time of 14.30 seconds. In the finals, Rose set a personal best of his own at 13.97 seconds, earning him fifth.
Rose also ran in the 400-meter hurdle, where he placed 15th (52.68s). Senior Robert Williams took third with a season-best time of 51.00 seconds, which is currently 13th best on the national leaderboard.
Freshman Eleftherios Kontonikola, competing for just the second time in a year and a half following shoulder surgery, finished fifth in the javelin. Kontonikola currently occupies a top-50 spot on the national leaderboard due to his 66.63-meter throw at the Hurricane Invitational.
Sophomore Viktor Morozov barely missed qualifying for the indoor national championships this winter but is already on the road to the outdoor championships. He made his outdoor season debut in the high jump with a 7.13-meter leap, earning him fifth at the meet.
Three Illini ran in the 800-meter, including sophomore Tadeas Placek and junior Nicolas Dovalovsky, who both set personal bests. Placek took ninth (1:48.12), while Dovalovsky finished 28th (1:50.07).
The Illini will take this upcoming weekend off before returning home to Demirjian Park for the second-ever Gary Wieneke Invitational on April 13.
