UI relay record set at NCAA's

The six men competing for Illinois treated the NCAA's exactly like any other indoor meet, by setting new University records and recording personal best marks. The men traveled to Fayetteville, Ark. for the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday, returning with six All-American accolades as well as a second place finish in the 4X400 meter relay.

The relay team of Abe Jones, Tramell Smith, Nathan Vadeboncoeur and Adrian Walker will now be known as the fastest 4X400 relay team in Illinois history as they finished second overall behind LSU with a time of 3:06.79. The relay team broke the previous mark of 3:07.47 set by Chris Jones, Tyrone Jones, Matt Klima and Sherman Armstrong in 1998.

"The words Fighting Illini mean a lot to these young men," head coach Wayne Angel said of the relay team. "As a result of their hard work we are number two in the country and the best relay in Illinois history."

Vadeboncoeur began the race for the Illini with a 46.6 on the first leg. He then handed it off to Jones who ran the fastest leg out of all the Illini with a 45.8. Smith ran the third leg with a 47.1 and Walker finished it off with a 46.8. All four athletes gained All-American status and a place in the Illinois record books.

"All four of us have been running together for so long now, it's great to see this success," Smith said.

Senior sprinter Jones finished eighth overall in the 400-meter dash, continuing his All-American status. On Friday, Jones' new personal best time of 46.18 broke the Illinois all time mark of 46.38 set back in 1988 by Tim Simon.

"I felt great this weekend and I raced with three of my best friends," Jones said. "We had made a promise to ourselves to motivate each other and that's exactly what we did. It's been hard this season making sure every one was healthy at once so we could run the best times possible."

Fellow senior Smith also excelled on Friday, winning his heat in the 800-meter dash with the fastest prelim time of 1:49.17. Smith went on to finish ninth overall with a time of 1:49.15.

"This weekend was truly a lot of hard work paying off," Smith said. "This weekend was a lot of fun too, and now that it's starting to get warmer outside I think we'll take the momentum of a successful indoor season with us as we start the outdoor season."

Sophomore Nick Brown became the first Illini to achieve All-American status this weekend by finishing ninth in the long jump with a mark of 7.56m. Smith also jumped a 15.45m (50'08.25") in the triple jump to finish 13th overall.

Freshman Dominique Worsley placed second in his heat in the 200-meter dash with a personal best of 21.14, but failed to qualify for Saturday's final as he finished 10th overall. Worsley's time ranks second on Illinois' all-time 200-meter list.

"It's so good to see a freshman perform this well," Jones said. "This was just a special weekend for all of us and I think we represented Illinois well."