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Orange and Blue Tie for Fourth at Pre-Nationals
 
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Engel finished third overall with a personal best 6K time.
Engel finished third overall with a personal best 6K time.
 
 

Oct. 18, 2008

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The No. 17 Illinois women's cross country team tied Georgetown for fourth place at the Pre-Nationals meet on Saturday at Indiana State, scoring 186 team points in the White Team race in a field of 39 squads.

Senior Katie Engel led the Illini in finishing third overall. With a 6K time of 20:23, Engel had a personal-best performance and finished with the third-fastest 6K time in Illinois history.

"Katie had an outstanding race," cross country coach Jeremy Rasmussen said. "She is starting to figure out just how good she can be. Now it is just a matter of continuing to take some risks and continuing to push herself to that next level."

Junior All-American Angela Bizzarri finished second for the Orange and Blue and 13th overall with a time of 20:47 in her first race of the season. Following Bizzarri was freshman Kristin Sutherland, who had another impressive race in placing 29th with a time of 21:04. Sophomore Chantelle Groenewoud (64th) and junior Elizabeth Boyle (77th) were next with times of 21:33 and 21:41, respectively.

"They ran well today," Rasmussen said. "Everyone really stuck to the race plan that we had created and did an excellent job of executing it. Placing fourth overall was a good showing of where we are at and we know can continue to get better from here."

Florida State and Princeton tied for first in the Pre-Nationals White Team race with team totals of 89 points. Michigan garnered third place with 168 points. Winning the individual title was Susan Kuijken of Florida State with a time of 19:49.

The Fighting Illini are set to host the Illini Open next Friday, Oct. 24 at the UI Arboretum before they travel to the Big Ten Championships, which will be held on Nov. 2 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Illinois Results
3. Katie Engel 20:23
13. Angela Bizzarri 20:47
29. Kristin Sutherland 21:04
64. Chantelle Groenewoud 21:33
77. Elizabeth Boyle 21:41
111. Theresa Brokaw 22:01
191. Stephanie Baliga 22:48

Open Results
38. Christina Beaird 22:30
99. Kate Tysse 23:39

Team Results
1. Florida State 89
1. Princeton 89
3. Michigan 168
4. ILLINOIS 186
4, Georgetown 186
6. Arizona State 202
7. Baylor 203
8. Stony Brook 265
9. Nebraska 350
10. Northern Arizona 374