University of Illinois
NCAA Midwest Regionals
Illini Finish Season Strong at NCAA Regional Meet
November 12, 2005 | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 12, 2005
IOWA CITY, IOWA - Illinois' men's cross country team had an outstanding performance Saturday, finishing 7th out of 30 teams in the 2005 NCAA Midwest Regional with 198 points. Although they fell just short of a top-five team finish, sophomore Dan Stock emerged for the Illini with a likely individual bid to the NCAA Championship.
Oklahoma State took home a first-place team finish with 49 points as host Iowa (72 pts.), and Kansas (74 pts.) rounded out the top three.
Finishing 19th overall with a 10K time of 31:30, Stock could potentially earn the Orange and Blue's second NCAA Individual bid in as many years. Jason Bill earned a spot in 2004.
"Here's a guy, a walk-on who qualifies individually for nationals," Head Coach Wendel McRaven said. "Dan's gotten better each week he's raced, and he races with a lot of confidence and poise. He's just starting to scratch the surface, and I'm excited to see how he'll continue to progress this season and in seasons to come."
After an injury in the season-opener at Iowa, Stock didn't compete again until the Pre-National meet Oct. 15, finishing first for Illinois with an 8K time of 24:52. Stock later clinched another first place finish for Illinois at the Big Ten Championship, finishing 33rd overall with an 8K time of 25:28.
McRaven was also pleased with Illinois' team performance today. "This is our last meet of the year, and I really like the way we ended the season," McRaven said. "We competed much better at this meet then we did at Big Tens."
Other top Illini finishers included Maciej Sniegorski (36th, 32:20), Matt Flaherty (44th, 32:32), Eric Wallor (46th, 32:35), and freshman Tim Maier (53rd, 32:43).
"The guys were aggressive early today and got in a good position to run well," McRaven noted. "For Dan, it really paid off since he really had to battle with a couple guys at the end."
The NCAA Championships will be held on November 21 in Terre Haute, IN. In addition to the 18 automatically qualified teams, 13 teams and 25 individual runners not from a top-four qualifying team will be selected for at-large bids this Sunday.
Team Results (Top 10) 1. Oklahoma State 49 2. Iowa 72 3. Kansas 74 4. Minnesota 77 5. Loyola-Chicago 182 6. Missouri 192 7. ILLINOIS 198 8. Iowa State 246 9. Drake 300 10. Illinois-Chicago 306
ILLINOIS Finishers 1. Dan Stock (19) 31:30 2. Maciej Sniegorski (36) 32:20 3. Matt Flaherty (44) 32:32 4. Eric Wallor (46) 32:35 5. Tim Maier (53) 32:43 6. Michael Kelley (70) 33:08 7. Tim Kelly (75) 33:18
