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2007 Season In Review
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Sophomore Angela Bizzarri garnered All-America honors at the 2007 NCAA Championships for the second-straight year.
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Dec. 14, 2007
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After establishing itself as one of the elite distance programs in the nation, newly named Illinois women's cross country coach Jeremy Rasmussen inherited a talented squad that hoped to build upon a tradition of excellence in the 2007 season. After racing into the record books in 2005 with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, the Illini began to build a program that would become a major threat at the national level. Even with losing three of the top five runners from last year's eighth-place squad, the Illini looked to improve upon the 2006 season. With the experience the Orange and Blue had returning, combined with a new head coach, the Illini hoped to build on the progress they made and build new traditions in the Illini family.
After using the Illini Challenge, the first and only home event, to give experience to its extensive roster, the Orange and Blue went into the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships with notable national attention to start off the season. The Illini were listed as No. 1 in the Midwest Region poll and No. 6 in the first NCAA Division I poll of the season, as named by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
At the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships, freshmen standouts Danelle Woods and Chantelle Groenewoud made their collegiate debuts, while Rasmussen waited to showcase the top returning runners until later in the season. They helped lead the squad to the team title, with Woods coming in second overall with a 5K time of 17:27, and Groenewoud following closely in fourth.
"After Danelle and Chantelle's performances at the Pan-Am Junior Games in early July, I was excited to see where their fitness was and what we needed to work on for the remainder of the season," Rasmussen said.
Two weeks later at the Notre Dame Invitational, Rasmussen combined the newcomers with the top returning Illini, who made their season debut against a loaded field of competitors, including seven nationally ranked teams. The Orange and Blue made a dash for the finish line, taking a second-place finish overall with its top runners all recording 5K personal-bests. Sophomore All-American Angela Bizzarri led the Illini with a second-place finish overall, with a personal-best 16:43 performance. Sophomore Katie Engel and senior Rachel Hernandez finished strong together, both recording personal-bests as well, crossing the finish line in 17:31 in 24th and 25th place, respectively.
"Walking away from Notre Dame, we thought we had the pieces to be able to put together and do some great things this year," Rasmussen said. "It was just going to come down to working together and learning to enjoy running again."
Up next for the Illini was the toughest test for the team thus far, competing at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet and going up against 22 of the top 30 teams in the nation. This meet served as a major stepping-stone for the squad, giving them more experience against nationally ranked competition, as they raced on the same course used for the NCAA Division I Championships.
Bizzarri finished fourth overall as she led the Fighting Illini to a fifth-place finish in the 6K White Division race. Crossing second for Illinois was junior Katie Engel with a time of 21:00, while freshman Danelle Woods finished third for the Illini with a 21:11.
After a weekend to recuperate, the Illini looked toward the conference championships and hoped to better their fifth-place finish from 2006. With the Big Ten having the most competitive conference, with seven out of the 11 teams ranked in the top 30, the No. 10 Orange and Blue expected to hold or better, their ranking in the Big Ten pack behind No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Michigan State and No. 8 Minnesota.
The Illini held their spot among the Big Ten teams, coming in fourth, and defeating three of the six other nationally ranked teams in attendance. Bizzarri was the standout once again, finishing third overall, and clocking an impressive time to break the 6K school record by six seconds with a 19:59 performance.
As the second scorer for the Illini, junior Katie Engel crossed the finish line taking 13th overall with a time of 20:30, while freshman Danelle Woods finished in 24th with 20:55. Nearly every member of the squad recorded 6K personal-bests, including Bizzarri, Engel, Woods, Groenewoud and sophomores Stephanie Baliga, Theresa Brokaw and Shannon Phelan.
Though the Illini's success was not enough to garner the conference championship, Woods took home the 2007 Big Ten Freshman of the Year accolade, after finishing as the top freshman in the conference race. Bizzarri and Engel both took home First and Second All Big-Ten honors, respectively.
Illinois next looked for its fourth-consecutive berth into the NCAA Championships at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships. After earning their first trip in 2004, the Illini finished second at regionals for two consecutive years in 2004 and 2005, followed by their first-ever Midwest Region crown in 2006.
The team accomplished its goal of automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships for the fourth-straight year with its second-place finish. For the fourth-straight competition, Bizzarri led the way, clocking a time of 20:03 to finish second overall. Engel was Illinois' runner-up with a time of 20:45 to finish 13th overall, while Woods came in 17th in 20:54. Sophomores Stephanie Baliga and Theresa Brokaw bombarded the finish line with orange as they crossed in 31st and 32nd, respectively, rounding out the Illini's scorers.
Three members of the Illinois squad appeared among the ranks of the Midwest All-Region roster due to their performances, including Bizzarri, Engel and Woods.
Illinois assumed the No. 10 position in the national poll, and began to prepare for the NCAA Championships, which were just two weeks away.
At nationals, the Illinois pack was once again led by Bizzarri, who crossed the finish line in 14th, the second-best finish of any Illinois women's cross country athlete at the NCAA Championships. Her 20:35 time helped her garner All-America honors for the second-straight year. She led the Orange and Blue to a sixth-place finish, the second-best finish in program history, behind a fifth-place showing in 2005.
Engel, the second scorer for the Illini and 58th overall, came in with a time of 21:14, followed by Woods coming in 99th with 21:33. Rounding out the scorers for Illinois were sophomores Stephanie Baliga and Theresa Brokaw, crossing the finish line in 21:44 and 21:57, respectively.
Ultimately, the Illinois women's cross country team used its combination of newcomers and veterans to produce a winning season, culminating their year at the NCAA Championships with a sixth-place finish while bringing home an All-American. First-year head coach Jeremy Rasmussen directed the Illini to their second-best finish in school history and their third top-ten finish at the national meet in the past three years. The only other team to accomplish the same feat is Stanford, which has won the national title the past three seasons.
"The season was one to remember for me," Rasmussen said. "I saw such a transformation and improvement on the team. That is what I am most proud of, being able to foster an environment that enables everyone to excel to their fullest potential, while being able to enjoy every minute of it."
The Orange and Blue have just begun to reach the potential they are capable of, and will only continue to develop to produce winning seasons for years to come.
