Illinois hosted its second home meet of the season this past week in the Fighting Illini Challenge and Combined Events. The three-day meet spanned from Thursday to Saturday and featured a heptathlon on the first two days, followed by individual events on the last.
Heptathlon success
Freshman Luuk Pelkmans made his heptathlon debut for the Illini by breaking the program record for points (6,127). He won the 1000m (2:38.33) en route to the historic performance.
Pelkmans’ total makes him the current NCAA leader in the event and also represents the second-best performance by a Dutch heptathlete all-time. Pelkmans finished second in the event behind assistant coach Heath Baldwin.
Junior Jip de Greef also had an impressive heptathlon performance. The junior placed third with 5,997 points and won the pole vault with a mark of 4.90m (16-0 3/4).
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Day 3: Individual accomplishments
In individual events, the men carried over their success from days one and two. Junior Javaris Ambrose won the weight throw, setting a new PR with a throw of 19.99m. Ambrose’s sophomore teammate Reece Ihenacho placed second in the event, setting his own PR of 19.11m.
Junior Cody Johnston had an excellent performance in the pole vault, placing second and clearing a height of 5.62m (18-05 1/4). This vault was good for seventh in the NCAA and stands as Johnston’s new PR. Johnston had three chances of setting a new program record, with a mark of 5.67m (18-07 1/4), but came up short on each attempt.
Senior Viktor Morozov won the triple jump with an NCAA top-10 jump of 16.10m.
On track
Among runners, junior Jackson Gilbert set a new PR in the 300m with a time of 34.07 seconds.
Freshman Pol Molins took first in the 1000m with a time of 2:23.70. Sophomore teammate Trey Sato finished just behind Molins, achieving a new PR at 2:23.83.
Looking ahead
Illinois looks to continue its strong performances next weekend as it heads to Arkansas for the Razorback Invitational. The event takes place on Friday and Saturday.
