The Illinois men’s track and field team added to its early season triumphs with a first-place finish over Southern Illinois, Indiana State and Eastern Illinois in the Bill Cornell Spring Classic in Carbondale, Ill., with title-winning performances by the 400- and 1600-meter relay squads.

“I was pleased with what we did in the relays this weekend,” head coach Mike Turk said. “The 4×1 stepped up after a tough meet last week, and the 4×4 again had a solid meet and remained consistent.”

The 4×100 team — comprised of sophomores DJ Zahn, Brandon Stryganek along with juniors Julian Smith and Vanier Joseph — rebounded following a false start disqualification last week at the Big Ten/SEC Challenge. Turk said the relay team took a more conservative approach to the event in order to avoid repeating last week’s error. 

“We were overly aggressive last week in the 4×1, and it cost us,” he said. “We took a more cautious approach, and it allowed us to take a big step forward in the span of just one week. The 4×1 is in a similar position to what it was last year, so we’re confident that we will still progress further.”

He also spoke about the relay team’s need to improve further, specifically by having crisper and cleaner exchanges. With Stanley Azie and Olympian Andrew Riley graduated, the  turnover from 2011’s school-record setting squad is complete. Zahn and Stryganek, the other two components of the 4×100 team that challenged the school record last year, have a long way to go to reach that level with a new group.

“We have big shoes to fill with having to replace Andrew Riley in the 4×1,” Zahn said. “It was nice to get the win, but we have a ton of work to do in the event to get to where we want to be.”

The 1600-meter relay crew, consisting of Juan Paul Green, Zahn, Ryan Lynn and Zebo Zebe, crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 16.78 seconds, to improve on its fifth-place finish (3:17.70) in last week’s season opener.

“We had already won the meet by the time the 4×4 rolled around, and there was no reason to run the event, but we wanted the meet experience anyway,” Turk said. “The 4×4 still isn’t at full strength, but they put forward to good effort, nonetheless.”

Zahn stood out as an individual performer, taking home titles in the 100 and 200-meter dashes to finish with four titles overall. The sophomore improved on his effort last week by two hundredths of a second, winning the event with a time of 10.63. In the 200, Zahn finished with a time of 21.26.

“Improving on my start has my biggest focus recently, and it was definitely much better, which allowed me the success I had,” he said.

Zahn earned praise from his coach for competing in four events.

“DJ is really an unsung hero for us,” Turk said. “He does so much for us, that’s why he’s such a vital component for our success.”

Dan can be reached at [email protected].