Nov. 16, 2002

NORMAL, Ill. - It was the complete performance Gary Wieneke was looking for heading into the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship as his Illinois men's cross country team earned the school's top regional finish in 16 years as the Illini men finished third overall at the 24-team championship. On the women's side, Karen Harvey's women's squad road the legs of junior Erin Frakes to yet another upper-division finish as the Illini women finished 11th at the 23-team meet.

As he has done in each of the last two meets, freshman Jason Bill led the Illini with another record-setting performance. This time out, Bill earned All-Midwest Regional honors with a seventh-place individual finish in a time of 30:15.55. In addition to being Illinois' best individual finish at the NCAA Regional since 1996 when Barry Pearman finished third, Bill's time was just nine seconds from being one of the top-10 10,000 meter performances in school history.

Not to be outdone, senior John Kronforst also earned all-region accolades with a 12th-place showing in a time of 30:25.75. In addition to being the fastest time of his career, Kronforst became the first Illinois runner to earn back-to-back all-region honors since Scott McClennan did it in 1997-99.

"I was awfully pleased with these guys today," head coach Gary Wieneke said. "They went out and ran as well as they have all season. Everyone ran a personal-best time today and that's outstanding. From top to bottom, this was one of the finest performances we have had in a long time and it might be enough to get us to Nationals. We won't know until Monday, but because of this team's performance today, we have that hope."

Rounding out the scoring for Illinois was senior Justin Mitchell who finished third for the Illini and 37th overall in a time of 30:05.97. Adam Palumbo finished 42nd in a time of 31:06.11, Aaron Wahls was 55th individually and fifth for the Illini in a time of 31:18.79 while Kris Cunningham finished 63rd in a time of 31:35.86 and freshman Paul Jellema was 75th in a time of 31:58.34. Each of those times were career-best performances for the Illini.

The Iowa Hawkeyes won the team title at the regional with 79 points, while Minnesota's Andrew Carlson won individual medalist honors with a time of 29:56.82.

Karen Harvey's women's team finished 11th overall against the field of 23 teams thanks to the efforts of Erin Frakes. The junior finished as Illinois' first scorer, 33rd overall, in a season and career best 6,000 meter time of 21:45.30. In addition to being a career-best time, the performance was the sixth fastest 6,000 meter time in Illinois history.

Running in her final collegiate race, Celi Dietzen was the Illini's second scorer thanks to another season-best performance of 21:52.46. In addition to being a season-best mark, the time is the fastest 6,000 meter time run by an Illini senior in school history.

Rounding out the scoring for Illinois was freshman standout Ellie Pinzarrone who finished 61st in a time of 22:16.88, sophomore Tabitha Volling who finished fourth on the team and 76th overall in a time of 22:34.19, sophomore Leigh Anne Kenyon who was 86th with a time of 22:43.35 and junior Abby Legue who finished 133rd with a time of 23:57.38.

Missouri won the women's team title with 63 points while Kansas State's Amy Mortimer won individual honors with a time of 20:26.39.

This was the final meet of the season for the Illinois women, while the Illini men will have to wait and see if their performance this afternoon was enough to earn a birth to the NCAA Cross Country National Championships hosted by Indiana State Nov. 25 in Terre Haute, Ind. Qualifying teams to the NCAA Championships will be announced Monday by 5 p.m.