The Illinois men’s track and field team competed in the NCAA West regional meet that occurred in Austin, Texas this past weekend. The team presented 19 athletes to compete for a spot at the NCAA Championships next month. The team had seven athletes qualify to participate in the event in Eugene, Ore.
The Illini got their first qualifier Friday with senior distance runner Hunter Mickow qualifying in the 10,000-meter run. Mickow, who recently finished seventh at the Big Ten Championships, ran the race with a time of 30 minutes, 10.93 seconds and became the first Illini to qualify for the nationals in that distance in six years.
In the 400-meter dash, junior Stephon Pamilton and freshman Juan Paul Green both qualified for the national meet. Pamilton qualified for the championship in this event for the first time in his career, crossing the line in 46.63 seconds, while Green finished a millisecond later at 46.64 seconds.
Freshman hurdler Cameron Viney set a lifetime best at the meet with a time of 50.54 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles. Viney’s performance of a lifetime just barely fell short, claiming the 13th-best time of the meet, one place out of qualification.
The Illini showed a lot of team camaraderie, qualifying two relay squads for the national meet. The 400 meters and 1600-meter relay squads both qualified on the final day of the meet with six total athletes in teams. The 400-meter relay team of Julian Smith, Brandon Stryganek, DJ Zahn and Pamilton automatically qualified for the national meet with a time of 39.83 seconds.
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The 1600-meter relay team that consisted of Zahn, Pamilton, Green and Viney qualified for that event with the third-fastest time of all qualifiers at these regionals. Pamilton anchored the final leg, crossing the line and recording a team time of 3:05.53.
While he came agonizingly close to qualifying for the championships, junior hurdler Vanier Joseph came in one spot off the national stage with a 13th-place finish. Joseph’s season ended with a time of 13.88 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles. The Eastern Michigan transfer has impressed for the Illini this season and was disappointed to fall short, but will be using it as an inspiration for his final college season next year.
The seven male Illini athletes who qualified will compete in four events at the NCAA Championships at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore., next month. The only senior qualifier is Mickow and the other athletes will gain useful tips about how to handle the stage. This year’s performance signifies a lot of promise for the team’s future with the invaluable core of the team returning next year with a little more wisdom and comfort.
Lanre can be reached at [email protected] and @WriterLanre.
