By: Jeff Schlabowske
Illinois Sports Information
Oct. 5, 2004
The Illinois men's cross country team has turned a lot of heads early in the season and for the first time in head coach Paul Pilkington's Illinois tenure, they have received votes in the United States Cross Country Coaches Association poll. Much of that has to do with the outstanding off-season efforts of the team. One particular case of exceptional effort is that of junior captain, Jason Bill.
Bill has consistently been the Illini's top runner finishing the best of any of his teammates in each event he competed in throughout the 2003 season. In 2003, Bill won both the Missouri Challenge and the Pack-It-Up Illini Challenge held at the UI Arboretum. Bill has also added a personal best 24:37 in the 8K to propel him to a 12th place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree. Bill's freshman year brought him success as well, including earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships which no Illini has been able to accomplish since Craig Virgin did it in 1973. Bill finished the 2002 season at the U.S. Cross Country Junior Nationals where he finished eighth and was named an alternate to the U.S. Junior National team.
Cross country runners are no strangers to pain. It is no surprise that running at such a grueling pace for nearly thirty minutes will burn, but Bill's pain is different; it is something that would knock out most runners for the entire season. For most of Bill's running career he has been plagued with what runners term side stitch.
Coach Pilkington explained, "We felt that part of the cause might be from some movement in his internal organs striking on the diaphragm muscles."
Pilkington has been working with Bill to alleviate the side stitch pain along with some periodic back pain. The answer to the side stitch lied in Bill's stride length. "We changed up his stride length by shortening it," and as far as the back pain Pilkington added, "His back gets a little tweaked and out of line so the trainers have been working with him to strengthen his back and realign it."
"He has cleared up his back problems which we think may have been the cause of his side stitches. He hasn't had the problem in workouts and he looks real good," said Pilkington.
Bill has never felt better and is eager to get the season rolling. He explained, "This year I've had some side pain, but I've gone to the physical therapist and we cleared that up. So far, so good, hopefully it continues not to hurt me and I don't see that happening."
This year's Illini cross country team has high hopes and they look to do a lot of damage in the Big Ten. Bill praises his teammates, "We've got a solid group of 7-10 guys who are in shape and all put in the effort it takes over the summer."
"Qualifying for nationals is always a goal of the team," said Bill. The junior leader likes his squad's chances, "I think we're well on our way, we just need everybody to finish healthy. We need to run a real solid race, not even anything real special. We're all capable of doing something special and if we can all do it on the same day, anything can happen."
Coach Pilkington has high expectations for his captain. "Bill will continue to be one of the best runners in the Big Ten which also means he'll be one of the better runners nationally. I think he'll be a very good national class distance runner. We want to get him to where he can compete with anyone in the country and that's the end goal. It is not out of reach for Jason to finish top-20 nationally."
Bill is always looking to improve and ran track, which he has credited with improving his development. "Track has helped my strength and my speed; it has given me confidence."
Pilkington agrees that track has helped improved Bill as a runner saying, "One thing running track did was help Jaosn qualify for NCAA finals, so he knows that he can run with the better guys in the country. He has also dropped his 3K, 5K and 10K times and when those drop, the better we can develop his speed the better he is going to be in the long races. He is a more progressed, faster and stronger runner than he was a year ago and track has continued that process."
Bill's personality has made it easy for Pilkington to delegate authority to the captain. Pilkington praises Bill, "Part of his leadership comes from his work ethic. He never misses any workouts, he is never late for anything, and you will never see him sleep in. He is always there; he is always doing the small things that are necessary to get him to the next level."
Pilkington went on to say, "He is the team captain and I will rely on him if things need to be talked over or corrected. He is the type of individual that can subtly go to someone in a non-confrontational way and say, `hey, here is what we need to do and here are the changes we need to make.' He is the guy that the whole team looks up to, he sets the example for them."
Bill has no problem with his role on the team. "I like to lead by example, I'm not the most outspoken guy. I think as long as you lead by example, the younger kids are definitely going to follow. If they see the older guys working hard, they're going to do the same."
With the season just getting under way it will be interesting to see if Bill can live up to the expectations. One thing is for sure, Bill has taken all the steps to become a top runner in the United States. Now that the side stitch problems are gone there is no telling how far the junior can go.
