With two meets left before the Big Ten Championships, the Illinois men’s track and field team will head to two of its most crucial meets of the outdoor season.

For the first and only time of the outdoor season, the Illini will split up, with a small contingent of long-distance runners competing at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif., while the rest of the team will travel to the LSU Alumni Gold in Baton Rouge, La.

At the LSU Alumni Gold, the Illini will be back on the track once again in SEC country facing off against some of the nation’s elite teams such as host LSU and No. 1-ranked Texas A&M.

“One of the biggest reasons we schedule tough meets like this one is to get our guys ready for Big Tens and nationals,” head coach Mike Turk said. “We know we’re not going to win every event but we’re going to go in fighting and competing, and I see it as a huge benefit going forward.”

Following a disqualification last weekend, the 400-meter relay will implement another lineup change. Turk will replace sophomore Jade Ackerman — who replaced junior Vanier Joseph last week — with 1600-meter relay standout junior Stephon Pamilton — who is slated to run the third leg. The rest of lineup will remain unchanged with junior Julian Smith leading off, sophomore Brandon Stryganek in the second leg and DJ Zahn in the anchor leg.

“We have three solid legs in the 4×1, but we’re just trying to find that fourth leg, and every time we get a new guy in there it messes with our team chemistry,” Smith said. “When we put in a new member everyone has to adjust to a different role. Since I’m leading off, I’m looking to open with a fast leg to give us a chance to record a fast time.”

In the individuals events, the Illini are eager to witness the continued growth and success of freshman Cam Viney and Vanier Joseph in hurdles. Viney will be back in the 400-meter hurdles attempting to surpass his season-best time set last weekend. After a week off, Joseph will be back in the 110-meter hurdles. Turk expects both hurdlers to run their fastest times yet.

“The best workout I can get in the 400 hurdles is to run it on race day,” Viney said. “The more reps I get during actual races, I’ll see even more improvements in my speed and form.”

The Mt. Sac Relays present the most important meet of the season for Illinois’ distance runners. The majority of the runners competing over the weekend had a bye week last weekend in order to better prepare for Mt. Sac. For all of the runners, the meet will be a prime opportunity to record their best qualifying times for the national meet in May.

Jim Riddle and senior Hunter Mickow will look to establish themselves in the 10,000 meters, along with senior Jannis Toepfer in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and freshman Ian Barnett in the 1500 meters.

“Mt. Sac is always a focal meet for the distance guys, and a meet they work hard toward putting out their best times of the season,” Turk said. “We have some guys like Jannis and Ian that have grown tremendously up to this point and we look to see them put up some fast times.”

Dan can be reached at [email protected].