Illinois’ No. 1 women’s and No. 18 men’s teams performed well in the Big Ten Indoor Championships in Indianapolis this weekend. The Illini women finished second overall with 93 points, and the men ended in seventh with 43 points.
Victory, Illinois!
Six Illini won their events and took home Big Ten Indoor Champion titles.
Sophomore Meagan Humphries broke the Big Ten Indoor Championships and Illinois program pentathlon records with her performance (4,459 pts.). It also puts Humphries as the national leader in the event.
“First let me say wow; what a day Meagan had I’m so proud of her,” said director of track, field and cross country Petros Kyprianou to Fighting Illini Athletics. “That is exactly what we talk about all season long showing up to these big meets and attacking from the jump. She did that from start to finish today with a PR in all five events and deserves to be the Big Ten Champion.”
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In the weight throw, graduate student Phethisang Makhethe was the Illini’s first Big Ten Champion for the event. Makhethe’s throw also set the program record (23.70 meters).
Junior Sophia Beckmon, meanwhile, took gold in the long jump (6.77 meters).
“I’m very proud of myself,” Beckmon said to Big Ten Network. “I came in knowing that I could do it … I’m very happy to be able to support my team in that way.”
Illinois took gold in both the women’s and men’s high jump. Graduate student Rose Yeboah won the event after just four attempts with a 1.87-meter jump. Freshman Kennedy Ocansey took first after matching his personal best and reaching 2.18 meters.
“I feel so good,” Yeboah said to Big Ten Network. “My goal was to come beat people, win and score for my team. That’s it.”
In the triple jump, senior Viktor Morozov secured gold with a distance of 16.38 meters.
Pushing the podium
Beckmon also competed in the 60-meter sprint and took bronze (7.31 seconds) with the fourth-fastest time in Illinois history.
Alongside Humphries, sophomore JaiCieonna Gero-Holt took silver in the pentathlon and set the third-best mark nationally (4,400 pts.). Gero-Holt also finished fifth in the high jump (1.81 meters).
Kyprianou credited Gero-Holt’s resilience as a reason for her finishing on the podium two days in a row.
Freshman Emma Haeggblom also ended on the podium in the high jump, earning seventh place with a 1.78-meter jump.
The Illini dominated in the weight throw. Following Makhethe, junior Jordan Koskondy placed third (23.06m) and graduate student Oluwatomilayo Akintunde took sixth (22.18 meters).
In the long jump, junior Elizabeth Ndudi finished fourth with a distance of 6.34 meters.
Junior Mercy Honesty finished fourth in the triple jump (13.32 meters), followed by junior Katharina Graman in fifth (13.38m) and freshman Romi Tamir in seventh (13.04 meters).
Senior Mia Morello reached 4.45 meters in the pole vault. While she finished five centimeters off her best performance this season (4.50 meters), Morello still earned bronze and her first Big Ten Indoor Championships medal.
On the men’s side, junior Andreas Hantson finished second in the heptathlon, marking the program’s fifth best score (5,683 pts.). Hantson’s finish put the first points of the competition for the men on the board. Also in the heptathlon, freshman Tim Pelkmans placed sixth (5,381 points).
In the 400 meter, junior Jackson Gilbert finished third with a time of 45.73, marking the program’s second fastest time.
Up next
The Illini will travel to Arkansas to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13 and 14.
“The next one is the big one and we’re going to come in with a bit of a chip on our shoulders as both the men and women left some points out there this week.” Kyprianou said to Fighting Illini Athletics. “I know we’ll be ready to go and I can’t wait to get to the national meet!”
