After a strong showing at last week’s Fighting Illini Challenge and Combined Events, the Illini carried over their success into the two-day Razorback Invitational.
Friday featured a number of strong individual performances for the Illini. Junior pole vaulter Cody Johnston achieved what he wasn’t able to do last week and leaped to a height of 5.67m. This mark officially broke a nearly 40-year-old program record and was enough to earn Johnston the win. It also stands as a new Big Ten indoor record.
Like Johnston, graduate student Rose Yeboah set a new program record. Her 1.94m leap in the high jump also tied the Big Ten record.
Other day one standouts included junior Sophia Beckmon, who won the long jump (6.85m), junior Jordan Koskondy, who placed second in the weight throw (23.08m), senior Mia Morello, who took second in the women’s pole vault (4.40m) and freshman Gator Young, who finished third in the men’s pole vault (5.30m).
In the long jump, junior Elizabeth Ndudi placed two spots behind Beckmon in third (6.63m), landing three places ahead of freshman Romi Tamir (6.31m).
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Saturday standouts
Day 2 turned out to be less eventful than the first, but still featured several notable performances.
Junior Zavien Wolfe took first place in the men’s triple jump with a mark of 16.39m. Wolfe’s senior teammate, Viktor Morozov, took sixth in the event with a jump of 15.99m.
Junior Katharina Graman placed fifth in the women’s bracket with a mark of 13.40m. Junior Mercy Honesty finished 10th (12.91m) to ensure two Illini top 10 finishers for both the men’s and women’s teams.
Sophomore Jacob Cookinham placed sixth in shot put with a throw of 18.06m.
Turning the page
The Illini take the week off before some head back to Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Feb. 13 for the Tyson Invitational. Others will head to the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University the same weekend.
