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Fighting Illini Finish Strong at Bradley Open
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Sept. 12, 2003
Illinois' women's cross country team ran its third race of the season Friday night at the Bradley Open. The race marked the debut of three of Coach Karen Harvey's heralded freshman, Sammie Polock, Cassie Hunt and Pam Wolf. The team finished with 138 points, but the score does not reflect the Fighting Illini's performance in the meet. Harvey used this race as a warm-up for net week's Spartan Open at Michigan State, having her runners keep a slower pace for the first two kilometers before turning the final three kilometers of the 5K race into her team's time trial.
"These three do not run like freshman," Harvey said. "They're real mature. At the 2K mark, they couldn't even see the leaders, but they didn't panic. Once they hit the beginning of the third kilometer, they wound up and let it go. They're excited right now, but they weren't happy that I held them back, but that's because no coach has ever made them run like that. Overall we ran really well. Alyssa ran a very good race and earned herself a trip to MSU next weekend."
Despite being in the low 50's at the 2K mark, Polock finished 7th, Hunt 9th and Wolf 12th.
"I thought if they had been allowed to run the race full out, they would've finished even higher," Harvey said.
Today's strong finish gives the Illini reason to be excited heading into the Spartan Open because that will be the first time that Harvey will compete with all of her weapons, as Polock, Hunt and Wolf will be joined by Casie Simpson, Stephanie Simms and Jaime Turilli among others, who were given today off to recuperate from various sicknesses and injuries.
The Spartan Open is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. CST.
Today's Illinois Results:
1. Sammie Polock(7) 17:59 2. Cassie Hunt (9) 18:01 3. Pam Wolf (12) 18:06 4. Alyssa Illian (50) 19:05 5. Jenny Brdecka (60) 19:20 6. Ellie Pinzarrone (67) 19:29 7. Katy Kostal (73) 19:37 8. Bridget McLeese (81) 19:49
