Feb. 19, 2007

Winning one championship is hard enough, but it is even harder to build up a program to the point to where it is a perennial national contender.

But that is exactly what Illinois has done with its women's track and field program.

The Illini have won the Big Ten indoor team championship on five occasions and have sent its entire squad to the NCAAs in 22 of the 25 seasons that the NCAA has sponsored the sport.

Illinois' success has been due in large part to 22nd-year head coach Gary Winckler, a five-time Big Ten Coach of the Year selection that has coached six different athletes to 11 individual honors and countless individual conference titles.

Included in that mix is three-time All-Big Ten honoree and three-time 60-meter dash champion Yvonne Mensah - the latest of Winckler's superstars.

Mensah kicked off her collegiate career with a successful 2004 indoor campaign for which she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

"[Being named Freshman of the Year] definitely boosted my confidence, and that's the biggest thing about a lot of freshman athletes," Mensah said. "It's a huge reality check because you're so used to being in high school winning state championships and then in the first meet you get your butt whooped.

"Knowing I had a rather successful season definitely helped me keep my confidence up for my years here, and knowing I just needed to go out and do my own race and perform like I can - it doesn't mean you're going to win, but that helped me right off the bat and helped me to know I was doing something right."

But even after receiving that validation of her running skills, Mensah refused to put herself on cruise control and continued to work hard to improve herself as her career moved forward.

"Everyone's got that moment when you kind of get stuck, but you can't settle," Mensah said. "It's nice to win awards and to win events - it's a huge honor, but you've got to keep pushing through and try and get it again next year. You can never settle."

Mensah's family also played a huge role in pushing her to become a better runner.

"The thing my parents always say is, `You've got to keep working for it because it's not going to be given to you.'" Mensah said. "Everything I've done is because I've worked for everything I need to work for. It's always an honor to get awards, but as satisfying as that is, I'm never satisfied."

Additionally, it was Mensah's older brother who served as a role model in helping her get started in athletics.

"Ever since I can remember I've always done sports," Mensah said. "My brother played soccer and basketball, and then one day he just started track. He's four years older than me and I watched a lot of his track meets and at one of his meets they had little kid races, so I'd get into those.

"As soon as I was able to, I was on the track; and I've been on it ever since."

As budding athletes growing up in Surrey, British Columbia, Mensah and her brother used to tape track meets and replay performances by their favorite athletes - one of whom was current Illinois assistant Tonja Buford-Bailey.

Illinois' Mensah grew up admiring former Illini standout Tonja Buford-Bailey, who now serves as Mensah's assistant coach in Champaign.

Mensah still remembers how she felt when she found out she would be under the guidance of one of her favorite childhood athletes.

"For a while, we didn't know who the new assistant coach was going to be," Mensah said. "The coaches kept telling us that she was going to be good and we were really going to like her. I had no clue, and then we came to practice and I saw her walking across the track, I called my brother right away because we taped track meets like crazy and we used to watch her all the time."

One of the most decorated athletes in Big Ten track history, Buford received outdoor Freshman of the Year honors (1990) before receiving back-to-back Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championships awards in 1992-93 for both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Buford also helped Illinois build its true indoor track and field dynasty as the program won four of the five team championships from 1992-96.

Buford was also an NCAA Champion in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 1992. She has since competed in the Olympics three times (1992, '96, '00) and was a bronze medalist at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Ga.

And even though Mensah and Buford have done much to keep Illinois track and field on the national radar, no tradition is made up of only two athletes. Illinois' legacy goes back to the early years of Big Ten women's championships and includes athletes like Celena Mondie, Gretchen Grier and Dawn Riley - all Big Ten record holders and Big Ten Champions.

Overall, the Illini boast 68 individual conference titles as they head into the 2007 Big Ten Indoor Championships which will be held on their home track.

An Illinois athlete has won the 60-meter hurdles in each of the past five seasons as LaNeisha Waller did it in 2006, Mensah in 2004-05 and Perdita Felicien in 2002-03. Felicien was an NCAA Champion in the same event, bringing the program its first national indoor title in 2002.

The tradition of continued success is a large reason why Mensah chose to attend Illinois, and she is now humbled to think that future athletes will be making the same decision based on seeing her face in a media guide.

"I guess when I look at the process I took in choosing a university, looking at the media guides and seeing all the past Olympians and NCAA Champions and All-Americans, that's pretty amazing to see so many people come from one institution," Mensah said. "Knowing that years down the line, people are going to look at the media guide and see me ... that's pretty overwhelming."

Despite continually possessing a championship-caliber team, Illinois has not won the indoor team title since 1996, but has finished second the last two years.

Mensah and the Illini are looking to bring Illinois back to the top at this year's championships, where they hope the home-track advantage will play a role.

"This is our house," Mensah said. "This is where we practice every day. We're just comfortable here. A lot of us run our fastest times here. I hope it's a huge advantage for us and I hope we use it and don't get too excited because this is where we practice every day. We have the home crowd; there are lots of parents coming out. It's definitely a huge advantage."

Mensah also knows that while track is considered to be an individual sport, it still takes a full team effort to win a championsip.

"The only way we can win as a team is if everyone does their part as an individual," Mensah said. "A lot of people consider track to be an individual sport, but it still comes down to the team. If you don't perform, the team can't do well."

Mensah notes that even with all the individual success she has had at Illinois, her fondest moment came when her team captured the 2005 Big Ten Outdoor Championship.

Mensah experienced how crucial an entire team effort is in 2005 when the Illini won the Big Ten outdoor championship even though it may not have been her personal best performance.

"I didn't necessarily have a great weekend," Mensah said. "I fell in hurdles and it took me a while to get back, but knowing that I went down, a lot of other people stepped up and played their part, and it's really special when you see everyone coming together like that."

And, for Mensah, being able to share that special moment with her teammates ranks one of her top collegiate achievements to date, even in front of all the awards and gold medals she has won as an individual.

"It's always good to win individual events," Mensah said. "But one of the greatest moments for me was as a team winning outdoors a couple years ago."

Mensah has shared more than just success with her team. The senior considers herself lucky to have had the opportunity to connect with her coaches on many levels during her time at Illinois.

"One of the things I love about being here is being able to talk to the coaches," Mensah said. "You can talk to them about track, personal issues or school. [Buford] has taught me so much. If I'm going through something, she's always there - both her and Gary [Winckler]. It's nice to know that she is someone I've looked up to for so long and now she's actually giving me advice."

And that - when past meets present to make the future better - is what makes a dynasty last.