University of Illinois
NCAA Regional Meet
Fighting Illini Tie for Second at Regionals
November 12, 2005 | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 12, 2005
Illinois tied Minnesota for second place today at the NCAA Midwest Regional meet at the Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City, Iowa. Because only the top two finishing teams can automatically qualify for the NCAA National Championships on November 21, a tie-breaker favored Minnesota as the automatic qualifier after comparing their top finishers in second and third to Illinois' top finishers in seventh and 13th. The Illini will now have to wait for an at-large bid to advance to national competition.
"We just didn't execute today," said head coach Karen Harvey. "The team wasn't focused on the goal. The number one priority was qualifying for nationals and now we'll have to wait for that bid."
The Division I track and field subcommittee will meet on Sunday, November 13 to extend at-large bids to 13 additional teams that did not automatically qualify in regionals. Considerations for these bids will include the team's regional finish, number of wins against teams qualified for nationals, results of head-to-head competition between teams, record against common opponents, and top individuals.
Junior Cassie Hunt led the Orange and Blue with her seventh place finishing time of 21:06, while junior Stephanie Simms finished 13th. Finishing third for the Illini and 19th overall was sophomore Katie Coppin. Freshman Katie Engel crossed the line as the 24th finisher. Rounding out the top five for Illinois was freshman Liz Mengyan, placing 27th. The first four Illini finishers received All-Region Honors. The Illini's team finish of second tied their highest regional showing from both 1984 and 2004.
The women of Oklahoma State took first in the team competition, while the individual title was earned by Wichita State's Desiraye Osburn. Complete results from the NCAA Midwest Regional meet can be found at www.ncaa.org.
Illini Results:
1. Cassie Hunt (7) 21:06
2. Stephanie Simms (13) 21:24
3. Katie Coppin (19) 21:39
4. Katie Engel (24) 21:55
5. Liz Mengyan (27) 22:01
