With former Illini and 2012 Olympian Andrew Riley rooting on his ex-teammates, junior Vanier Joseph and five relay teams sent the Illinois men’s track and field outdoor out with a bang to end the regular season at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, this weekend.

Joseph took home the title in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.59 seconds. His time was his career best and good for second-fastest in school history. The junior hurdler has nursed a hamstring injury since the end of the indoor season and returned just a week ago after a three-week absence.  

“Vanier ran an amazing race and might have been of his best I’ve ever seen him run, given his circumstances,” head coach Mike Turk said. “The biggest obstacle for him in getting back into form was the mental hurdle, and he got though that in a pretty big way.”

Joseph’s victory in the hurdles marked the second consecutive year in which an Illinois hurdler finished first in the 110 hurdles at the Drake Relays. Last season, Riley won the same event in his national championship season. The former Illini sprinter and hurdler also competed at the meet as part of the London Games Rematch Series; he won the 110 as well.

“It was cool to have Andrew in the crowd cheering us and me on the whole weekend,” Joseph said. “It’s always great to have that extra motivation behind me when I’m trying get into midseason form before the Big Tens.”  

Along with Joseph’s title-winning performance in the 110 hurdles, the Illini won the inaugural Hy-Vee Cup, which scored five relays — the 400 meter, 1600 meter and 3200 meter relays, and the sprint and the distance medleys — as a team score. Illinois emerged victorious in the debut event by 36 points over teams such as Alabama and Iowa.

Leading the way for the Illini in the Hy-Vee Cup was the 4×100, consisting of junior Julian Smith, sophomore Brandon Stryganek, junior Stephon Pamilton and sophomore DJ Zahn. The relay recorded its best performance of the outdoor season with a second-place finish good for a season-best time of 38.97 — the fifth-fastest in school history. Turk said the more conservative approach on exchanges, something that has plagued the relay squad all season, paid major dividends for the 4×100.

“We were expecting a different result in the 4×1 coming into the weekend, and it was a relief to have run a really solid relay,” Zahn said. “We’ve got a bunch of talented, hard-working guys on the 4×1, so it was just a matter of time before we put things together.”

Illinois clinched the Hy-Vee Cup title with a second-place finish by the 4×400 relay. The 4×400 of Zahn, Pamilton and freshmen Cam Viney and Juan Paul Green finished with a season-best time of 3 minutes, 9.47 seconds. The squad lost the title by 0.7 seconds to Big Ten rival Nebraska.

“We were a bit disappointed not being able to get the title in 4×4, but it was a great effort from the guys nonetheless,” Turk said. “This 4×4 has been one most exciting things for me to watch on a weekly basis, and they have the chance to get something special done at Big Tens.”

Rounding out the action for Illinois was the 4×800 relay, the sprint medley relay (SMR) and the distance medley relay (DMR). The 4×800, consisting of junior Zebo Zebe, freshman Luke Carroll, sophomore Josh Jones and senior Ryan Lynn, finished second with a time of 7:28. The SMR and DMR both finished in third place.    

Illini field events were led by a standout performance from junior Matt Bane, who finished second in the pole vault with vault height of 5.29 meters. 

“Matt and the rest of the pole vaulters were once again models of consistency that we are thankful to have on our side in the postseason,” Turk said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected].