University of Illinois
Pre-NCAA District V Meet
Illini Women's Cross Country Wins Pre-Regional
October 2, 1999 | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 2, 1999
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Illinois hosted a pre-regional meet this morning at the UI Blue Golf Course in Savoy. The Illinois women pleased the home crowd by winning their first meet of the season. The Illini tied in team points with Drake at 67. Illinois won on a tie-breaker as senior Danielle Fonzino (Elmhurst, Ill./York), UI's fifth runner, finished one place (27th) ahead of Drake's fifth runner (28th). Under NCAA cross country rules, if there is a tie between two teams, the tie is broken by the higher finisher of the fifth scorer.
Illinois was once again paced by senior Tara Mendozza (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest), who won the 5K meet in 17:46.81, just two seconds off her personal best. The victory also marked Mendozza's first individual title in a meet.
"When I saw Scott win the men's race, I said to the team that an Illini had to win our race too," Mendozza said. "Coach had a good race plan for me today and I stuck to it. I was kind of tired there at the end, but when I saw the finish line and the crowd was cheering me on, I just kept running and didn't look back."
"I feel great for the team," coach Michelle Byrne said following the victory. "We've talked a lot about protecting our home turf because we didn't do that last time. We've had a great two weeks of training, and I'm thrilled that we performed the way we're capable of in a race situation."
Freshman Cecelia Williams (Elmhurst, Ill./York) ran a clutch second for the Illini, and fourth overall in a time of 17:57, blowing away her personal best by one minute and 12 seconds. Byrne was especially pleased to see Williams bounce back, after not performing up to expectations two weeks ago at the Illini Invitational.
"Celi ran awesome today," Byrne said. "She was not happy with the way things went last time out, so she battled back and has worked really hard these past couple of weeks. Today she showed what kind of a competitor she is. She's one of the best freshman runners in the Big Ten."
Along with Williams' fourth place finish, the other Illini newcomers continued their impressive racing. The three and four scoring slots belonged to Amber Hunt (Naperville, Ill./Central) and Lyndsey Dunnavan (Rockford, Ill./Guilford). And it was Dunnavan who provided the highlight of the meet, chasing down and passing not one, but two Eastern Illinois runners in the final 20 meters to finish 24th.
Next week, the Illini women race at the Purdue Invitational on Friday afternoon at 4:30 pm.
Women's Team Scores
1. University of Illinois
1 4 11 24 27 (32) (33) = 67
1. Drake University
2 3 16 18 28 (29) (35) = 67
3. Northern Iowa
7 8 9 10 38 (39) (46) = 72
4. U of Iowa
5 12 17 19 20 (21) (31) = 73
5. DePaul University
6 13 14 15 42 (44) = 90
6. Eastern Illinois
22 23 25 26 34 (36) (37) = 130
7. Western Illinois
30 40 41 43 45 = 199
Women's Individual Results
PLACE TmPl NAME SCHOOL TIME
===== ==== ============ =============== ============================= ========
1 1 Tara Mendozza University of Illinois 17:46.81
2 2 Tracey Bearden Drake University 17:51.01
3 3 Sarah Murton Drake University 17:55.70
4 4 Cecelia Williams University of Illinois 17:57.95
5 5 Sarah Arens U of Iowa 18:04.26
6 6 Jeannette Stojcevski DePaul University 18:19.74
7 7 Sue Holtkamp Northern Iowa 18:28.78
8 8 Teresa Grothus Northern Iowa 18:29.66
9 9 Evette Iverson Northern Iowa 18:30.44
10 10 Rita Fiala Northern Iowa 18:30.96
11 11 Amber Hunt University of Illinois 18:31.49
12 12 Anne Ruffcorn U of Iowa 18:32.24
13 13 Carrie Grady DePaul University 18:35.75
14 14 Mary Vonckx DePaul University 18:42.02
15 15 Mary Dodd DePaul University 18:43.96
16 16 Carrie Cesario Drake University 18:47.36
17 17 Katie Butler U of Iowa 18:48.79
18 18 Marti Houtsma Drake University 18:50.84
19 19 Michelle Lahann U of Iowa 18:51.84
20 20 Becca Thompson U of Iowa 18:57.69
21 21 Amy Murphy U of Iowa 19:04.07
22 22 Shelli Troha Eastern Illinois 19:04.68
23 23 Erika Couli-Parenty Eastern Illinois 19:05.71
24 24 Lyndsey Dunnavan University of Illinois 19:06.67
25 25 Lindsay Speer Eastern Illinois 19:06.93
26 26 Beth Martin Eastern Illinois 19:07.35
27 27 Danielle Fonzino University of Illinois 19:14.99
28 28 Sarah Lemley Drake University 19:15.96
29 29 Katie Kincaid Drake University 19:19.19
30 30 Brigitte Burtron Western Illinois 19:20.23
31 31 Ericka Roberts U of Iowa 19:22.37
32 32 Laura Robbins University of Illinois 19:26.22
33 33 Jamie Paul University of Illinois 19:26.34
34 Kristina Quigley U of Iowa 19:28.84
35 34 Kim Victor Eastern Illinois 19:30.40
36 35 Kelly Kincaid Drake University 19:34.73
37 Katie Hennessy University of Illinois 19:36.82
38 36 Lisa Klingler Eastern Illinois 19:37.33
39 37 Lauren Rapacki Eastern Illinois 19:38.13
40 Michele Barrowman Eastern Illinois 19:38.73
41 Katie Springer Eastern Illinois 19:39.58
42 38 Karin Diestelmeier Northern Iowa 19:42.52
43 Kate DiGregorio Eastern Illinois 19:43.37
44 Maggie Griffin U of Iowa 19:48.54
45 Erin Martin Drake University 19:56.64
46 Nicole Milici Eastern Illinois 19:59.18
47 39 Jessica Moore Northern Iowa 20:00.42
48 40 Stacey Sullivan Western Illinois 20:01.30
49 Kristi Schmidt U of Iowa 20:04.20
50 41 Linda Kneiss Western Illinois 20:07.25
51 Nicole Addington Drake University 20:10.33
52 42 Molly Marcucci DePaul University 20:17.06
53 Jenn Berdis Eastern Illinois 20:20.32
54 Kristen Kass Drake University 20:24.32
55 Jess Myers Eastern Illinois 20:30.38
56 Mandy Tucker Eastern Illinois 20:40.09
57 Leah Hentges U of Iowa 20:53.52
58 Kara Lacey Eastern Illinois 20:55.12
59 43 Tia Wojtaszek Western Illinois 21:00.96
60 44 Jessica Karlin DePaul University 21:02.99
61 45 Michele McCormick Western Illinois 21:13.93
62 46 Anne Heefner Northern Iowa 21:26.59
63 Kim Jirik Eastern Illinois 22:06.21
64 Terese Murray Eastern Illinois 22:12.29
