Sept. 11, 2008

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The women's cross country team goes on the road this weekend for its first away meet of the season at the Bradley Open on Friday, Sept. 12. The Orange and Blue will travel to Peoria, Ill. where they will race at 5:30 p.m. The Illini will compete against 17 other collegiate teams from the Illinois area as they strive for continued improvement after a solid debut two weeks ago.

"The nice thing about this meet is almost everyone has ran on this course already," cross country coach Jeremy Rasmussen said. "It's the high school state course and a lot of people are looking to run a lot faster than they did in high school."

Nine Illini are set to race on Friday as sophomore Stacy Hague and freshman Amber Stack make their season and collegiate debuts, respectively. The majority of the team's top finishers from the 2007 season will wait to make their debut until next weekend or even later in the season. After a third place finish at the Illini Challenge and a similar line-up of racers for this weekend, the Orange and Blue travel to Peoria with hopes of moving forward and improving.

"I expect that this weekend they will work on the things that didn't necessarily go right at the first meet," Rasmussen said. "One of the things we didn't see enough of in the first race was working together. There were a lot of people spread out. I'd rather see people coming in side-by-side or a few seconds apart. If we can work on these things, we can continue to improve."

After the Bradley Open, the Illini will prepare to travel to Normal, Ill. on Friday, Sept 19, where they will compete at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships at 4:30 p.m.