The Illinois men’s track and field 400-meter relay squad of sophomores DJ Zahn and Brandon Stryganek and juniors Julian Smith and Vanier Joseph is still looking for progress after a lackluster fourth-place finish and a time of 40.72 seconds at the Tiger Track Classic in Auburn, Ala., last weekend.
“We’re not satisfied at all with our performance in the 4×1,” head coach Mike Turk said. “There a couple things in particular that we were looking to see major improvement during the meet, and we came up short still needing to improve heavily in a few areas.”
The major aspect the team and coaching staff are looking to grow is the quality of the exchanges from one leg to another.
Turk said the lack of clean exchanges during the relay events has cost the squad valuable seconds that affects its final time and placing in the most recent meet.
He also said the lower finish can be attributed in large part to the tougher competition the relay faced, such as Clemson and Auburn.
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Turk addressed speculation that he is considering lineup changes to the relay squad in the next couple meets, though he did not specify when or if the changes would occur.
“We thought we were ready to break out in the 4×1 going into this meet,” Zahn said. “We did some decent things in the 4×1, but we just need to be more consistent in it every week and bring the level of intensity in each relay leg every time we race.”
Sprinters get back to main events
Three Illinois sprinters were back on the track in their main events over the weekend. Stryganek and Smith got back to their main events in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, while junior Stephon Pamilton made his outdoor debut in the 400 meters. Pamilton finished second in the 400 with a time of 46.34 seconds.
“Stephon still has few races to go until he will be back to where he was at the end of the indoor season, but it was a good sign to see him run that strong in his first 400 of outdoors,” Turk said.
Stryganek finished sixth in the 100 with a time of 10.55 and third in the 200 with a time of 20.84, while Smith finished 14th in the 100 with a time of 10.79 and eighth in the 200 with a time of 21.21. Turk said both sprinters need more race experience prior to the conference meet to get into the midseason form he expects of them.
Pole vaulters lead field events at Auburn meet
The pole vault led the Illini in the field events over the weekend as juniors Matt Bane and Cody Klein tied for second. Both athletes recorded season-high vaults of 5.20 meters. “Cody and Matt had very strong showings once again for us,” Turk said. “It’s simply a matter of the two of them continually progressing over the next few meets and in practice. They’ve meant a ton to us in the indoor season, so we anticipate similar results once they get to their midseason forms.”
Dan can be reached at [email protected].
