June 13, 2008
NCAA Championships Host Page
Complete Results
Women's 5,000m Final Results (PDF)
DES MOINES, Iowa - Illinois women's track and field sophomore Angela Bizzarri placed second in the 5,000m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium on Friday, setting a new school record and earning All-America honors for the third time in her sophomore season.
Bizzarri clocked a personal-best time of 15 minutes, 46.08 seconds (15:46.08) to finish runner-up and easily record an Illinois school record in the event. The old record was 16:13.53, set by Jaime Turilli in 2005. Bizzarri beat her old personal best by over 30 seconds, which was 16:16.43 ran this year at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational.
"I'm so excited," Bizzarri said. "I was just hoping to be an All-American and run with the top pack. Honestly, I would have been happy to finish in the top eight. The race went better than I could have hoped or expected. I was just in the mindset to enjoy the race and see how it went. I was in the mood to run."
Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego ran away with the 5,000m title with a new NCAA Championships record of 15:15.08. Oregon's Nicole Blood finished behind Bizzarri in third (15:49.22).
With the second-place finish, Bizzarri earned her third All-America accolade of the year and fourth of her career. The Mason, Ohio native started her sophomore campaign by finishing 14th at the 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships to earn All-America honors for the second consecutive season. She also was an All-America in the indoor track and field season, running the 1,600m leg of the Illini distance medley relay that placed sixth at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships.
"She probably ran the smartest race of the year," distance coach Jeremy Rasmussen said. "I'm super excited for her. She put in a lot of work this season. With this year being her first running the 5,000 meters, I think she's found her niche. Going into the race we knew she was going to be one of the fastest individuals. I told her to give herself a shot. With about six laps to go, she was in the third pack and saw four girls in front of her break away and she immediately broke ahead to catch up, which set her up to finish as well as she did. She came off the track grinning from ear to ear."
Senior LaNeisha Waller concluded a successful Illini career on Friday, taking 13th overall in the 100m hurdles semifinals with a time of 13.60. The top eight finishers advanced to Saturday's final. At Illinois, Waller was a two-time Big Ten champion and competed at three NCAA Championships.
Illinois NCAA Championships Friday Results
5,000m Final
2. Angela Bizzarri 15:46.08
100m Hurdles Semifinals
13. LaNeisha Waller 13.60
