ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Seniors Olivia Howell and Tyler Sudduth finished day one of the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday, March 10. Howell placed second (4:39.49) in her heat and overall to qualify for tomorrow’s (March 11) mile final. Sudduth placed eighth in the weight throw with a 22.06m (72-4 1/2) toss.
This all but ensures that Howell will be a first team All-American in the indoor mile, she must place in the top-8 out of 10 finalists. Sudduth has already earned his first team All-American honor in the weight throw.
“As we start this journey at Illinois the staff and I constantly preached to the team that the NCAA is the Super Bowl of track and field,” said Director of Track, Field and Cross Country Petros Kyprianou. “We only brought two student athletes and they both qualified to the finals. Tyler started it off scoring for his team and earning an All-American honor. It is important that efficiency and toughness are our trademark. Both Olivia and Tyler showed that today. Tyler improved by 3.5 meters in a single season and managed to score at a ‘new’ event for him. This is a testament to our focus in quality and precision. Now we have to develop more athletes to this status and next year it will be a different story. Proud of them both and looking forward to Olivia doing something special tomorrow in the mile final.”
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Howell returns tomorrow, March 11, for the mile final that will start at 5 p.m. CT.
