Shroka leads way

CHAMPAIGN – Greg Shroka's indoor personal-best mark in the high jump was one of six events captured by the Illinois men's track and field team in Saturday's season-opening dual meet loss to Iowa.

Shroka jumped 7 feet, 0 1/4-inch to win the event at the Illinois Armory.

"Greg had a great performance with a personal-best indoor jump that will probably get him into the NCAAs," UI interim coach Mike Turk said. "He was jumping at heights today that we left off from last year, so he is right on track to improve on last year's success."

The Hawkeyes won 80.5-79.5 despite event wins from Andrew Riley (60-meter hurdles), Azeez Shogbuyi (60 meters, long jump), Boyea Lockett (200) and Alex Baldwin (pole vault).

In women's gymnastics:

Illini second in opener. The No. 13 Illini opened their season with a second-place finish in the four-team Salbasgeon Suites Invitational late Friday night at Corvallis, Ore.

No. 10 Oregon State won with 195.625 points, while Illinois scored 192.850. The field also included Air Force and Alaska-Anchorage.

The Illini were led by junior Allison Buckley, who tied for the vault title (9.850 points) and placed third in the all-around (38.700).

"It was our first time to take part in this event and was a good experience for us to compete against a quality opponent in Oregon State," UI coach Bob Starkell said. "We had high expectations but came out a little tight."

Illinois' best performance came in its last rotation, when it scored a 48.800 in the vault. Sophomore Kelsey Joannides placed third in the event with a 9.825.

"We had some uncommon errors at the start of the night but finished the night strong on vault," Starkell said. "With some of the ins and outs we had in the beginning, it was nice to end well."

The Illini posted the second-best score in every event.

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