Oct. 16, 2010
Results
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Illinois women's cross country team came in 24th out of 40 teams in the White Race at the Pre-National Invitational on Saturday. Senior Chantelle Groenewoud, running in her second race this season, led the Illini for the second time and finished 43rd overall, helping the Orange and Blue place in front of Big Ten foes Northwestern and Wisconsin.
"We had some people run well, but we didn't have the race we were hoping for," cross country coach Jeremy Rasmussen said. "We still need to get five people to run a great race on the same day. Our girls are slowly learning how to be a top team, and hopefully we can figure that out. There were some positives and some negatives, and we'll take both and learn from them."
Groenewoud cut 25 seconds off her time from last year's Pre-National Invitational and finished three spots higher. After setting a personal best in her season debut two weeks ago, Groenewoud ran well again, posting a 6K time of 21:11.7 on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
"Chantelle ran really well for us," Rasmussen said. "When you look at her score from this event last year, she's improved about thirty seconds, which is really great. We were really pleased with how she ran for us."
Junior Stacy Hague (21:48.5) took 94th overall and posted another top-two finish for the Illini. Hague has finished in the top two for Illinois in each of the five races she has run this season. Sophomore Stephanie Morgan (21:56.9) crossed the line next and placed 114th.
Junior Amber Stack (22:14.8) trimmed nearly three seconds off her personal-best 6K time from two weeks ago and finished fourth for the team and 145th overall. Junior Kristin Sutherland (22:25.4) rounded out the Illinois scoring and placed 170th.
Senior Ashley Thompson (22:54.8) and freshman Melissa Schmidt (23:02.7) also competed for Illinois, with Schmidt becoming the first Illini true freshman to race in the Pre-National Invitational since Sutherland in 2008.
Lucy Van Dalen of Stony Brook won the race in 20:08.1, followed closely by runner-up Laura Tremblay of Colorado. Georgetown won the team competition with 100 team points and had all five scoring runners in the top 35.
Up Next: The Illini host a meet for the second and final time this season. The Illini Open will be on Friday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m. CT and will be the final warm-up before the Big Ten Championships in Madison, Wis. It will be the third annual Illini Open, and Illinois has won the first two.
Illinois Results
43. Chantelle Groenewoud 21:11.7
94. Stacy Hague 21:48.5
114. Stephanie Morgan 21:56.9
145. Amber Stack 22:14.8
170. Kristin Sutherland 22:25.4
214. Ashley Thompson 22:54.8
224. Melissa Schmidt 23:02.7
Team Results
1. Georgetown 100
2. Colorado 123
3. Stanford 125
4. Stony Brook 216
5. Minnesota 241
6. San Francisco 308
7. Michigan 311
8. North Carolina St. 341
9. Toledo 342
10. Kansas St. 361
24. ILLINOIS 566
