No. 4 Illinois women’s track and field raced west to the sunny clear skies of Walnut, California for the Mt. SAC Relays over the weekend. Many competitors wrote their names into Illini history challenging a slew of program records.
With a time of 4 minutes and 15.86 seconds, junior Halle Hill raised herself up to third on the 1500-meter school leaderboard. Her mark is over a five-second improvement from her previous best time of 4:20.99. She placed fifth in the elite section over the weekend and rose to 44th in the national rankings for the 1500-meter.
Redshirt junior Rose Yeboah posted a high jump of 1.87 meters, the second-highest mark in Illini history. Her efforts won her a share of the high jump elite section and moved her up to fourth on the national leaderboards for the high jump. Junior Bara Sajdokova is the school record holder for the high jump and shared the win with Yeboah since they both cleared 1.87 meters on their first attempt. Sajdokova is third in the national rankings for the high jump.
Junior Sam Poglitsch won the 1500-meter collegiate section with a time of 4:26.47.
Freshman Asia Thomas also sprinted a new personal best in the 100-meter with 11.73 seconds, earning herself a 22nd-place finish at the tail end of her first season.
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The 4×100-meter relay team placed sixth in the elite section and set the program’s second-fastest time with 43.78 seconds. The team featured Thomas and her fellow freshman Sophia Beckmon, as well as juniors Tacoria Humphrey and Jessica McDowell. The team continues to close in on the 1996 program record time of 43.74 seconds. Their latest opus moved them up the national rankings to 12th for the 4×100-meter relay.
Junior Tori Thomas earned bronze in the pole vault elite section, clearing 4.30 meters. Thomas is ranked seventh in the nation. Her teammate, sophomore Mia Morello, placed fifth with 4.15 meters and is now 31st in the nation for the pole vault.
Freshman Elizabeth Ndudi leaped the third-best mark in this weekend’s long jump elite final, with 6.39 meters. She is ranked fourth in the nation for the long jump.
Graduate student Amber Simpson captured fifth in the hammer throw elite section this weekend, throwing 65.43 meters. She is ranked second in the nation, with a longest throw of 70.21 meters.
McDowell placed ninth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.96 seconds. She is ranked 11th in the nation for the 400-meter, with her fastest time being 51.41 seconds, which was set at the Florida Relays on March 30.
It was yet another exceptional weekend of performances for the Illini, who continue to challenge and improve program records for a myriad of events on a weekly basis. The team will aim to continue their amazing season at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa next weekend, starting Thursday, April 25.
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