Oct. 3, 2008

Complete Results |  Photo Gallery 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The No. 10 Illinois women's cross country team tied with New Mexico for ninth place at the Notre Dame Invitational. The 5K race in South Bend, Ind. featured 11 nationally ranked teams among the 23 total squads competing. Finishing first for the Illini and eighth overall was Katie Engel, who in her season debut ran a personal best 5K time of 16:54, smashing her previous time of 17:31.

"Everyone ran really well today," cross-country coach Jeremy Rasmussen said. "We had a lot of personal bests and that is exactly where I thought we would be. The competition is getting better and better and we need to continue to improve as it does."

Following Engel was freshman Kristin Sutherland (45), Theresa Brokaw (62), Chantelle Groenewoud (64) and Elizabeth Boyle (78). All of these top finishers for the Orange and Blue set personal best 5K records. Angela Bizzarri and Danelle Woods, two of the top three runners for the squad sat out this week and will make their season debuts in two weeks at Pre-Nationals.

"In preparing for Pre-Nationals, we need to give ourselves a chance at the start of the race," Rasmussen said. "As the competition becomes stronger at big meets like this, if you get too far in the back, there is a lot of room to make up. We need to work on getting engaged at the start of the race to give ourselves a fighting chance."

No. 3 Florida State University placed first at the meet with 88 points. Claiming the crown was Brie Felnagle from No. 28 North Carolina Chapel Hill with a time of 16:21.

The Illini will have two weeks to rest up before they compete in both the Bradley Classic in Peoria, Ill. on Oct. 17 and the Pre-Nationals meet Oct. 18 in Terre Haute, Ind.

Illinois Results
8. Katie Engel 16:54
45. Kristin Sutherland 17:26
62. Theresa Brokaw 17:39
64. Chantelle Groenewoud 17:40
78. Elizabeth Boyle 17:47
136. Stephanie Baliga 18:27
137. Christina Beaird 18:27
140. Stacy Hague 18:28
158. Kate Tysse 18:46

Team Results (Top 10)
1. Florida State 88
2. Princeton 124
3. Michigan 136
4. Stony Brook 156
5. Florida 179
6. SMU 245
7. Providence 250
8. Rice 251
9. ILLINOIS 257
9. New Mexico 257