Chambana Sun

The women's track and field team from the University of Illinois achieved significant milestones at the NCAA West Preliminaries in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The 4x100m relay team, consisting of freshmen Asia Thomas and Sophia Beckmon, along with juniors Tacoria Humphrey and Jessica McDowell, broke a long-standing school record by clocking a time of 43.50 seconds. This performance secured their place in the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the first time since 2016.

Previously, the record was held by Kelley, Richards, Williams, and Burkett with a time of 44.74 seconds set in 1996. The Illini team advanced to the national meet by running the fastest at-large qualifying time and placed ninth overall.

Junior Darja Sopova also made headlines by surpassing an 18-year-old triple jump school record previously held by Yvonne Mensah. Sopova's achievement earned her a spot at her first NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Petros Kyprianou, director of cross country and track and field, commented on the team's success: "Overall, this was a historic regional meet for us," he said. "We have a diverse and large group of youngsters qualified while breaking records and doing what's needed to advance to Eugene."

Jessica McDowell qualified for her first NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 400m event after finishing third in her heat with a personal best of 51.02 seconds.

In high jump events, redshirt junior Rose Yeboah and junior Bara Sajdokova both cleared heights that secured their advancement to their first NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Graduate student Taylor Beard concluded her collegiate career with a commendable performance in high jump, while Halle Hill finished her junior season placing seventeenth in the 1500m event.

Kyprianou expressed enthusiasm about sending sixteen athletes to represent Illinois across twelve events at Eugene: "I can't wait to watch the 16 athletes we will be sending to Eugene to represent us... Our ten women is the most since 2009."

Among those heading to nationals are Kam Garrett (high jump), Cody Johnston (pole vault), Viktor Morozov (triple jump), Aiden Ouimet (decathlon), Tyler Sudduth (shot put), Robert Williams (400m hurdles) for men; alongside women qualifiers including Mia Morello (pole vault), Amber Simpson (hammer throw), Tori Thomas (pole vault), among others.

The combined total of sixteen qualifiers marks an impressive achievement for Illinois athletics as they prepare for competition at Hayward Field from June 5-8.