University of Illinois
NCAA Championships
Fighting Illini Take Fifth at NCAA Championships
November 21, 2005 | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 21, 2005
The Fighting Illini raced into fifth place and the Illinois record books today at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships, hosted by Indiana State University. In only their second berth to the championships, the Orange and Blue's finish marks the best-ever in Illinois history, improving 15 spots from 2004's 20th place finish.
"That's exactly how we wanted to finish the season, with a bang," head coach Karen Harvey said. "After regionals, we trained hard to get our focus back. The girls have worked hard throughout the season and definitely earned this finish. They didn't go out too hard, but I was shocked by the 3K mark, they were all running better times than they had at Pre-Nationals. We were firing on all cylinders and what a great day to put it all out there."
The Illinois pack was led by Junior Cassie Hunt, placing 11th with 20:05 and earning All-American honors. Junior Stephanie Simms finished 37th overall, just shy of also earning All-American honors. Crossing third for the Illini was freshman Katie Engel in 64th with a time of 20:50. Sophomores Maggie Carroll and Katie Coppin rounded out Illinois' top five, finishing in 84th and 87th places, respectively. All seven Illini harriers recorded new 6K personal bests with their finishes.
 All-American Junior Cassie Hunt placed 11th with a new 6K personal best of 20:05.  |
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Northern Arizona Junior Johanna Nilsson claimed the individual title with a new course record of 19.33.9, while the women of Stanford earned the team championship title with 146 points. Other top-10 team finishes belonged to Michigan (6), Notre Dame (7), and Minnesota (9).
Complete results from the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships can be found at www.ncaa.org.
Illini Results:
1) Cassie Hunt (11) 20:05
2) Stephanie Simms (37) 20:31
3) Katie Engel (64) 20:50
4) Maggie Carroll (84) 21:01
5) Katie Coppin (87) 21:02
6) Rachel Hernandez (110) 21:14
7) Liz Mengyan (155) 21:40
Team Results:
1) Stanford (146)
2) Colorado (181)
3) Duke (185)
4) Arizona State (191)
5) Illinois (212)
