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Illinois Dominates Dartmouth Relays
Jan. 11, 2004
Illinois' men's track and field team was dominant Sunday at the 35th annual Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, N.H., scoring 158 points en route to a team victory. The Illini earned 16 top-three finishes, including seven in first place. Leading the way was Illinois' 4x200m relay team, which ran a time of 1:27.90 to set a new meet record for the event. The Orange and Blue also finished first in the 4x800m relay, second in the 4x400m relay and third in the distance medley relay. The Fighting Illini's sophomore class shined as Andre English (8.18 seconds in the 60m hurdles), Tramell Smith (1:52.60 in the 800m) and Eric Disilvestro (16'6" in the pole vault) set personal records while winning their events and Jamaal Folks took top honors in the long jump (23'00.50") and the triple jump (48'01.25"). In addition, a trio of sophomores added to the Illini's point total by finishing second in their events, Adrian Walker in the 400m (48.80 seconds) and the 60m hurdles (8.31), Charley Kurlinkus in the high jump (6'09.75") and Kurt Glesne with a 49'03.50" toss in the shot put. "There wasn't an event that I wasn't proud of," head coach Wayne Angel said. "We dominated the relays and broke the meet record in the 4x200m. I'm happy for the guys and I'm happy for Illinois. We've established momentum that I hope will carry over to the season, starting next week at home and continuing to Big Ten's." Senior thrower Peter Knaus moved into fourth place on Illinois' all time list in the weight throw after a personal best throw of 56'00.50". "We set a goal coming into the meet to score as many points as possible both individually and as a team, and we far exceeded it," Angel said. "We were competitive and stayed mentally tough, but what I thought was most important was the way we came together as a team. Guys were cheering each other, starting with the heptathlon on the first two days and the momentum carried over through today." Junior heptathlete Josh Fournier moved up to third on the all-time list with a 4,902 point output. The effort was good enough for a second place finish, behind only Mustafa Abdur-Rahim of Dartmouth, who was an All-American in the event last season. Complete results can be found at http://www.lancertiming.com.
The Illini will be back in action next Saturday, January 17, when they host the Illinois Open at the UI Armory.
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