Louisville, Ky. – Running for her final time for the Orange and Blue, Alyssa Schneider did not disappoint as she posted a 17th place finish with a time of 20:09.4. The top-40 finish netted the fifth-year senior the first All-America honor for Illinois since Angela Bizzarri won the individual national championship in 2009.
"I'm still letting it all set in," said Schneider. "The race went how I sort of expected it to, and so I was able to follow my race plan of getting out well, hanging on, and then using everything I had let in the last 1,000m. I set being an All-American as an overarching goal when I came in as a freshman, but really didn't truly felt in reach until this season. It feels awesome!"
Over the course of her four years at Illinois, Schneider accumulated three All-Region honors, a First Team All-Big Ten honor this season, and holds the the sixth-fastest 6K mark in Fighting Illini history. Her performance in the classroom, a degree in mathematics, adds to her accolades with three USTFCCCA Academic All-America honors during her four undergraduate years.
"My time at Illinois has been some of the best moments of my life, a lot from running and many from just being surrounded by great people at a great school," said Schneider. "I am grateful to have had all the opportunities that this school has given me over the last four and a half years."
Head Coach Scott Jones expressed his appreciation for Schneider's performance today and what she's done over the past four seasons as a whole.
"My primary emotion is happiness for Alyssa," said Coach Jones. "She has been probably the most deliberate athlete in her preparation that I've ever coached, and she has been fully invested in the program, so it is wonderful to see her perform so well in her final collegiate race. Today she demonstrated another quality by adjusting her race plan to the circumstances of this race. In all of her previous races this season she has been very patient and let the race come to her. Because of the course and the level of competition she had to be much more aggressive in the early stages of the race. I thought she did a great job projecting herself into the race in the first kilometer and then just being tough and competitive for the remainder of the race. I'm excited her name will join those of the late Marianne Dickerson (6th in 1981), Cassie Busch (nee Hunt, 11th in 2005) and Angela Bizzarri (1st in 2009, 6th in 2008 and 14th in 2007) as Illini women who placed in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships."
New Mexico took home the team title at today's championships with the lowest point score in 33 years with 49 points. Molly Seidel, a senior from Notre Dame, won the 2015 individual title with a mark of 19:28.6, five seconds in front of Boise State freshman Allie Ostrander (19:33.6).
The Fighting Illini Women's Cross Country Team ends their season after winning the Illini Challenge, improving their finish at both the Griak Invite and Big Ten Championships, and touting the program's first All-American in six years.
