Illinois men’s track and field head coach Wayne Angel had repeatedly stressed the need for non-sprinting athletes to step their performance up to higher levels.

Sophomore Casey Fonnesbeck answered Angel’s challenge at Saturday’s Spec Towns Invitational in Athens, Ga., qualifying for the NCAA Regional Championships in the shot put with a throw of 55 feet, five inches.

“It feels good to get it out of the way, and this way I can just focus on bigger things to come, focus on Big Tens and whatnot,” Fonnesbeck said.

While strong performances from his throwers had been a long time coming, Angel believes that Fonnesbeck now serves as an example to his teammates.

“It’s kind of a motivating factor for the team,” Angel said. “We got a guy that qualifies in the field events, and certainly I think it motivates those guys in the field event area as well as the distance and the sprints because as long as we’ve got people qualifying … they want to do the same.

“It’s taken a bit for Casey to get there, but now that he’s done it I think he’s full steam ahead. That’s the motivating factor for the team because week after week there are no limits, whoever’s ready is going to qualify,” Angel added.

A loaded field helped Fonnesbeck tally his season-best performance, as he threw after Olympian and professional athlete Reese Hoffa, who won the shot put with a throw of 68 feet, 5.25 inches.

“He opened up with like 68 feet, and I didn’t want to mess up so I threw a season-best because I wanted to follow with something good,” Fonnesbeck said. “Being around really good athletes ranked in the nation kind of helps you perform better.”