University of Illinois
Notre Dame Invitational
Illinois Women Finish 13th At Notre Dame Invitational
October 4, 2002 | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 4, 2002
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Solid performances by sophomore Jaime Turilli and junior Amy Guard led the Illinois women's cross country team to a 13th-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational, competed Friday at the Burke Memorial Golf Course in South Bend, Ind.
The Notre Dame Invitational is one of the nation's premiere collegiate meets and featured 24 women's teams in the Blue Division race. Included in that field were six Big Ten teams, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin in addition to No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 Notre Dame.
Turilli led the Illinois effort by finishing 38th overall with a time of 18:29. That time for the Bloomington, Ill., native established a season best over 5,000 meters and is the third fastest 5,000 meter time of her career. Following Turilli was the Peoria, Ill., native Guard. Guard finished with the second fastest 5,000 meter time of her career, 18:36, en route to placing second on the team and 53rd overall. Another notable performance came from freshman Elizabeth Pinzarrone. Racing in her first collegiate meet, the former Rockford Boylan Catholic standout finished 100th on the team with a time of 19:05.
"I thought that Jaime (Turilli) ran a solid race for us," coach Karen Harvey said. "She went out and competed well. The conditions were wet, but the course wasn't that muddy. It was still a fast, flat course and she just went out and ran. I also thought Amy Guard and Elizabeth Pinzarrone performed well. This was Elizabeth's first race for us and she went out and competed. But overall, we still have some work to do. These runners aren't to the point where I want them to be, but we'll get there. We had three of our runners out of the lineup today, so obviously that had an effect, but that's no excuse. Obviously it's not Nov. 3 (Big Ten Championships) yet, but we have some work to do."
Stanford won the meet with 21 team points, while Stanford sophomore Sara Bei won individual medalist honors with a time of 16;48.
The Illinois women's cross country team returns to action on Oct. 19 when they travel to Terre Haute, Ind., to take part in the Pre-NCAA Meet hosted by Indiana State. Start time for the race is 10:45 a.m.
###GO ILLINI###
