CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois director of track, field and cross country Petros Kyprianou announced nine additions to the roster on Friday (July 12) for the 2024-25 season. Five women and four men will don the Orange and Blue for the first-time next season.
WOMEN’S RECRUITS
Kristine Blazevica // Heptathlon I Pentathlon // Riga, Latvia // The University of Texas
Blazevica recently became an All-American in the heptathlon at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships with her third-place finish (6,126 points). This is her seventh All-America honor as she’s earned four indoors in the pentathlon and three outdoors in the heptathlon. Her personal-best in the heptathlon (6,146) and pentathlon (4,430) would each be program records by over 300 points.
A native of Riga, Latvia, Blazevica spent the past four seasons at the University of Texas and elects to end her career at the University of Illinois. She’s a seven-time All-American and seven-time Big 12 Champion in the combined events.
JaiCieonna Gero-Holt // Heptathlon I High Jump // South Hill, Wash. // Emerald Ridge HS
Gero-Holt, a native of South Hill, Wash., is the top-ranked women’s heptathlete and high jump recruit in the United States. On Aug. 6 last year, she became a U20 Pan American champion in the heptathlon with a score of 5,463 points, a mark that would rank second in the Illinois record book.
Her personal-best heptathlon score is almost 100 points better at 5,552 points, only 107 points away from breaking Carmel Corbett’s 5,658-point school record set in 1995. Her personal-best high jump sits at 1.89m (6-2 1/4), which she set on Feb. 16 of this season. That mark would tie Bara Sajdokova’s indoor school record that she used to win the Big Ten Indoor high jump gold; Gero-Holt leapt it at just 17 years old.
A graduate of Emerald Ridge High School, she adds her combined events talents to the roster and joins a strong high jump room with National and Big Ten Outdoor champion Rose Yeboah and Big Ten Indoor champion Sajdokova as training partners.
Eliza Kraule // Heptathlon I Pentathlon // Riga, Latvia // Rice University
Kraule became an All-American in the pentathlon this past March at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a personal-best 4,353 points, a mark that would shatter the program record by nearly 200 points.
A native of Riga, Latvia, she spent the past…
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