Sprinter Riley also matches school mark

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Illinois senior Angela Bizzarri tied a 22-year-old school record while winning the mile run Saturday at the Tyson Invitational women's indoor track and field meet.

The reigning NCAA cross-country and outdoor 5,000-meter champion finished in 4 minutes, 40.68 seconds, matching the UI record set by Melissa Straza in 1988. The time was the fourth fastest in the NCAA this season and provisionally qualified Bizzari for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

"Under any competition and under any circumstances, Angela is just a winner," Illini coach Tonja Buford-Bailey said. "She is very competitive and a smart runner. She has been working on getting her speed down, and it looks like that is definitely working."

The UI 1,600 relay team of Ryisha Boyd, Ashley Kelly, Marissa Golliday and Latoya Griffith set a provisional qualifying mark (3:38.50) as did Aja Evans in the shot put (53-0¼).

In men's track & field:

Riley ties mark. Illini sophomore Andrew Riley tied the school record in the 60 meters during the preliminaries of the Tyson Invitational. The All-American ran an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6.72 to match the mark set by Dominique Worsley in 2008. Riley finished seventh in the event with a 6.82 clocking in the finals.

In men's gymnastics:

Ruggeri rolls. Paul Ruggeri won three event titles and the all-around, leading second-ranked Illinois to a 350.650-342.150 victory against No. 7 Minnesota at Huff Hall.

Ruggeri finished first in floor exercise, vault and high bar while scoring 87.200 points in the all-around. Teammate Tyler Mizoguchi, a fellow U.S. Senior National Team member with Ruggeri, was second in the all-around at 86.450.

Illinois won all six event titles.

In men's tennis:

Illini edged. Abe Souza won his ninth straight match, but the No. 13 Illini were edged by No. 10 Kentucky 4-3 in the consolation round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at Charlottesville, Va.

Marek Czerwinski and Connor Roth also won singles matches for Illinois (3-4). Kentucky (7-2) pulled out two three-set victories in singles, including a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) triumph at No. 1 by eighth-ranked Eric Quigley against No. 43 Dennis Nevolo.

"It's a heartbreaking loss," UI coach Brad Dancer said. "There's some things we could have done differently in singles. Dennis, Stephen (Hoh) and Johnny (Hamui) lost very close matches. Kentucky just played better down the stretch and that was critical."

Souza improved to 15-3 with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 5 singles.

Illinois will conclude the tournament at 8 a.m. today against Fresno State.

In men's golf:

Illini finish strong. Top-seeded Illinois won twice on the final day of the Big Ten Match Play event in Coral Springs, Fla., to finish fifth.

In the completion of a consolation-round match suspended Friday with six holes left, the Illini defeated Indiana 4-2. Illinois then rolled past Michigan 4.5-1.5 in the fifth-place match.

Last year, Illinois finished fourth but lost its final two matches for a 1-2 record.

In softball:

Unbeaten Illini roll. The Illini outscored their opponents 22-4 while earning a pair of victories at the UNLV Sportco Kick-Off Classic in Las Vegas. Illinois (4-0) shut out Loyola Marymount 8-0 and pounded Long Beach State 14-4, with each game ending in five innings.

Four Illini had three or more hits on the day, including four apiece by second baseman Danielle Zymkowitz and first baseman Meredith Hackett. Center fielder Ashley Conrad homered in each game, while Hackett hit a two-run homer and drove in five runs against Long Beach State.

"What is probably most exciting about our offensive performance today is that we had a lot of distribution of hits," UI coach Terri Sullivan said. "We needed to start using the whole field and having productive outs, which we did today. Everyone did something to contribute."

Ashley Wright and Jackie Guy combined on six-hit shutout against Loyola Marymount. Monica Perry improve to 3-0 in the second game.