April 29, 2009

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois men's track and field freshman Andrew Riley was named Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week, announced the conference office today. He received the honor following a record-setting performance in the 110m hurdles last weekend at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.

Riley set the Illinois school record in the 110m hurdles final at Drake, timing 13.61 seconds in the race to finish runner-up to Stanford senior Myles Bradley. His performance shattered Sherman Armstrong's previous school hurdles record of 13.72 set in 2000. The Kingston, Jamaica native has shown continuous improvement in the hurdles since arriving at Illinois in January, dramatically improving his previous season-best of 14.06 seconds. The freshman now ranks first in the Big Ten and seventh in the NCAA in the 110m hurdles.

Riley now has two Illinois school records in his first year with the team, as he broke Armstrong' s 60m hurdles record at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with a winning time of 7.72. He subsequently was named Big Ten Indoor Freshman of the Year and went on to earn All-America accolades at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

The Illinois track and field teams will host the Illinois Invitational on Saturday, May 2 at the UI Track Stadium. Field events are scheduled to being at 12 p.m., with the running starting at 5 p.m. Admission to the meet is free.