Chambana Sun

The Illinois track and field teams are heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the Tyson Invitational on February 14-15. The women's team is ranked No. 4 nationally, while the men's team holds the No. 12 spot. Events will commence at the Randal Tyson Track Center with track events starting at 1 p.m. and field events at 1:15 p.m. on Friday, followed by a Saturday schedule beginning with field events at 10:30 a.m. and track events at 10:45 a.m.

The Illini last participated in this event in 2014, where five athletes secured top-five finishes.

In recent competitions, Asia Thomas set new school records in both the 60m (7.24) and the 200m (23.21), while Abria Smith achieved a record-breaking shot put distance of 17.27m (56-8). Rose Yeboah improved her high jump record to 1.92m (6-3 1/2), and Phethisang Makhethe enhanced her weight throw record to 22.52m (73-10 3/4). Jackson Gilbert also recorded notable times in the program's history for the 200m and 400m races.

At another event in Boston, Halle Hill ran the second-fastest mile in Illinois history with a time of 4:34.67, and Nicolas Dovalovsky marked the tenth-fastest time for an Illinois athlete in the 800m with a time of 1:49.24.

Several Illinois athletes are currently ranked among the top sixteen nationally in their respective events:

For women:

- Tacoria Humphrey ranks second in long jump.

- Lucie Kienast holds second place in pentathlon.

- Rose Yeboah is third in high jump.

- Sophia Beckmon stands fourth in long jump.

- Tori Thomas ranks sixth in pole vault.

- Phethisang Makhethe is eighth in weight throw.

- Darja Sopova ranks ninth, Morgan Smalls eleventh, Bara Sajdokova thirteenth, Asia Thomas fifteenth, Elizabeth Ndudi sixteenth all within their respective categories.

For men:

- Jip de Greef is second in heptathlon.

- Viktor Morozov ranks fourth and tenth respectively for triple jump and long jump.

- Tyler Sudduth holds sixth place for shot put.

- Kam Garrett ranks fourteenth for high jump.