FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Orange and Blue men’s track and field team completed their NCAA West Preliminaries on Friday (May 24). A trio of Illini men qualified to the NCAA Outdoor Championship: senior Robert Williams in the 400-meter hurdles, junior Kam Garrett in the high jump and sophomore Viktor Morozov in the triple jump.
Williams advances to his second straight NCAA Outdoor championships in the 400m hurdles on the program’s seventh-fastest time (50.27). He ran the fastest at-large qualifying time since the top-3 in each heat earned automatic bids, then the next three fastest times also advance to the national meet.
Morozov qualifies to his first NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump leaping the program’s eighth-best mark at 15.89m (52-1 3/4). The top-12 athletes in field events from each the NCAA East and West Preliminaries advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Garrett advances to his first NCAA Outdoor Championships in the high jump when he cleared 2.17m (7-1 1/2) on his second attempt. He earned the 12th and final qualifying spot in a tie breaker since he had less fouls in his field series. Last season with Kansas State, he was on the other side of this coin as he finished 13th in competition with a 2.15m (7-0 1/2).
Tadeas Placek finished his sophomore season with a 21st-place finish in the 800m quarterfinals on a time of 1:49.95. Senior Tyler Sudduth fouled out in the discus competition; he will still be in Eugene for the shot put.
UP NEXT
The women’s team will finish out their NCAA West Preliminaries action tomorrow (May 25) with field events beginning at 1 p.m. and track events at 5 p.m. CT. Fans can tune-in to ESPN+ at 5 p.m. to watch the action.
NOTES
- Robert Williams placed seventh and qualified to the NCAA Championships in the 400m (50.27).
- Viktor Morozov placed eighth and qualified to the NCAA Championships in the triple jump, 15.89m (52-1 3/4).
- Kam Garrett placed 11th and qualified to the NCAA Championships in the high jump, 2.17m (7-1 1/2).
- Tadeas Placek placed 21st in the 800m quarterfinals (1:49.95).
- Tyler Sudduth did not record a mark in the discus, three fouls.
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