ISU Invite Results

Normal, Ill. – The Fighting Illini competed for the second time this season at the Country Financial ISU Invitational Illini Challenge victory, but came up a little bit short. The team finished third overall with 95 points, good for third place behind Illinois State (78) and Loyola (60).

"We came to this meet to try to win and we didn't do that so we have to congratulate and acknowledge the efforts of Loyola and Illinois State. There are a lot of areas where we can get better," said coach Scott Jones. "Last year, this was the best meet that we put together as a team for the entire season. This year, it is our goal to make this our worst meet. We weren't trying to make it bad, but we certainly have identified specific areas for each person that we need to improve on, and some things as a team that we need to improve on in order to become the competitive team that we seek to be. While I'm disappointed in our finish, if we respond correctly, if we take the time to honestly evaluate things, we will continue to grow and get better, and be much, much at the end of the year when we want to be much better," said Jones.

Although the team did not finish as high as they had aspired to, Alyssa Schneider represented the Illini well as she cruised to her second consecutive individual meet title, besting Kelsey Hildreth of Northern Illinois by 24 seconds. Her time of 17:03.9 bested her 5K personal-record time of 17:18. It was the second consecutive week that Hildreth and Schneider finished one-two at a meet, with Schneider topping her last Friday by six seconds.

"That time is certainly one of the fastest times ever run on this course," said Jones. "I think it truly was an exceptional performance under the conditions. I think we want to use it positively that her fitness is really good, and her training is going well. It is legitimate for Alyssa to have big goals going forward into the meat of our season."

Coming in behind Schneider, Britten Petrey finished second on the team for the second straight meet, completing the 5K with a mark of 18:09.4, good for eighth overall. Audrey Blazek was the third Illini to cross, finishing 17^th overall with a time of 18:22.8. Valerie Bobart followed Blazek with a finishing time of 18:47.9, placing 32^nd.

Hanna Winter and Nicole Choquette made their season debuts for the Illini this evening, finishing 39^th and 53^rd respectively. Rounding out the finishes was Megan Lemersal (55^th), Kim Seger (68^th), and Ellie Palacios. Denise Branch was unable to finish after being tripped at the beginning of the meet.

The Orange and Blue will have a week off to rest and prepare for the highly competitive Griak Inviational in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It will be the second straight season the Illini have competed in this event. The meet is set to begin at 1:10pm on Saturday, September 26.

TEAM RESULTS:

1. Loyola – 60
2. Illinois State – 78
3. Illinois – 95
4. Northern Illinois – 102
5. Iowa – 110
6. Eastern Illinois – 116
7. DePaul – 179
8. Illinois Chicago – 186
9. SIU Edwardsville – 224

ILLINOIS RESULTS:

1.   Alyssa Schneider, 17:03.9

8.   Britten Petrey, 18:09.4

17.   Audrey Blazek, 18:22.8

32.   Valerie Bobart, 18:47.9

39.   Hanna Winter, 18:54.7

53.   Nicole Choquette, 19:17.6

55.   Megan Lemersal, 19:19.3

68.   Kim Seger, 19:36.3

93.   Ellie Palacios,  20:31.5