University of Illinois
Pre-Nationals
@IlliniWXC Meet Preview: Pre-Nationals
October 16, 2015 | Women's Cross Country
Meet Begins at 9:15am CT
CHAMPAIGN, ILL. –
Meet PREVIEW
After two weeks of rest, the Orange and Blue will travel to Louisville, Kentucky for Pre-Nationals, where they will compete in the seeded race at 9:15 central time. This will be their first Pre-Nationals appearance since 2013 when they placed fourth at the Indiana State meet.
Coach Jones on the Meet
"I think the main thing is to learn how to harness that competitive energy in a great environment that we have, and translate that into great individual performances and ultimately into a great team performance. So we're going to keep doing things like we did at the Griak meet. We really want to build on competing at a team, which I thought we were doing well, but do it a bit more aggressively in a little bit higher competitive environment."
Illini Set to Run
Coach Jones will send out the same lineup as he did at the Roy Griak Invite with the addition of Megan Lemersal to that group for this Saturday. Seniors Alyssa Scheneider and Britten Petrey will be counted on to lead the group as they have finished 1-2 for the Illini at all three meets this season. Hanna Winter, Valerie Bobart, Denise Branch, Audrey Blazek and Kim Seger will also look to build off of their Roy Griak performances.
A Look at the Competition
The Fighting Illini will be facing off against a number of Big Ten powers as well as national powers at the Roy Griak Invite. The headliner is the defending NCAA and Big Ten Champions, Michigan State along with fellow Big Ten counterparts Northwestern and host Minnesota. Outside of the Big Ten, the meet will feature nationally ranked Iowa State (#2), Boise State (#20), and California (#30).
Last Time out
The Fighting Illini competed for the second straight year at the Roy Griak Invite, finishing nine spots ahead of last season's performance. In their biggest meet of this season to date, the Illini were led to their ninth-place finish by senior Alyssa Schneider who notched a fourth place finish overall.
2015 Griak Invite Invite - Illinois Results
4. Alyssa Schneider, 21:27.3
46. Britten Petrey, 22:40.5
58. Hanna Winter, 22:50.8
79. Valerie Bobart, 23:12.6
83. Denise Branch, 23:17.0
91. Audrey Blazek, 23:26.8
161. Kim Seger, 25:05.4
2015 Griak Invite - Team Results (out of 26 teams)
1. Boise State -- 37
2. Michigan State -- 116
3. Minensota -- 141
9. ILLINOIS -- 270
Up Next
The Fighting Illini return home for their final regular season meet of the year as they host the Illini Open on Friday, October 23 with the women's race will beginning at 4:00pm. Big Ten Championships are in Chicago on Sunday, November 1.
