Posted: 5/2/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Thomas Root Freshmen Cody Wisslead and Joshua Gist clear the hurdles during the 110-meter hurdles race at the Illinois Twilight meet on Wednesday.

It was a dominating afternoon for the Illinois men's track and field team Wednesday at the Illinois Twilight meet.

In front of a home crowd, the Illini scored three NCAA regional qualifiers in impressive fashion, despite weaker competition.

Junior All-American Gakologelwang Masheto competed as an individual for the first time in the outdoor season and did not disappoint.

Masheto took first in his signature event, the 400 meters, with a qualifying time of 46.61 seconds and finished second in the 200 meters behind teammate Dominique Worsley.

"For a meet that wasn't supposed to be that big, these guys stepped up and made it big for themselves," head coach Wayne Angel said. "Things are starting to come together now and (we are) so much more comfortable as we get closer to the Big Ten Championships."

Right behind Masheto in the 400 was sophomore Brandon Gray, who finally broke through for a regional qualifying time, finishing in 46.93 seconds.

Along with Yawusa Kinda, the Illini now have three regional qualifiers in the 400 meters to go along with a qualifying time in the 4x400 relay, which is still the fastest time in the Big Ten this season.

Also putting in a record performance was sophomore Greg Shroka in the high jump, who took first with a jump of 7 feet, 1/4 inch.

He became just the fourth jumper Illini in program history to jump more than seven feet and is second all-time in the event.

The mark was also good enough to tie him for first in the Big Ten this season.

"I'm pleased with Masheto, Gray and Shroka," Angel said. "There's just a lot of performances that I didn't expect today and that is comforting. When you have a home crowd, it's always special and you try to do a little more,"

In the sprinting events, Worsley was untouchable. He took first in both the 100 and 200 meters.

The sophomore set a personal best in the 100 with a time of 10.34 seconds, almost sixth-tenths of a second better than fellow Illini Pierre Bush (10.91).

He ran a season best in the 200, finishing in 21.29 seconds, ahead of Masheto (21.78).

Worsley had already regionally qualified in both events.

"I think within the next two or three weeks, we're going to see some special things out of Dominique," Angel said. "We'll see if he can pull a Big Ten Championship out of his pocket."

In the 3,000 meter steeplechase, sophomore Rob Pykosz just missed a qualifying mark by two seconds but finished first in the event.

Junior Gary Miller recorded the fastest time this season for Illinois in the 800 meters, taking the event in 1 minute and 51.94 seconds.

Illinois will now have plenty of time to rest for the Big Ten Championships, which will be held in Champaign from May 16-18.

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