University of Illinois
Big Ten Championships
Illini WXC Wrap Up Big Ten Championships
October 30, 2016 | Women's Cross Country
Audrey Blazek Leads Illini
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Fighting Illini women's cross country team finished 10th at Big Ten Championships at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Red-shirt junior Audrey Blazek who ran the 6,000m race in 22:28.8 led the Illini today, placing 46th overall. Michigan won the 2016 Big Ten title with a team score of 63.
"My emotions today are positive," said Head Coach Scott Jones. "We performed as well as we could as a team today, and the top-four really stepped up. They maintained discipline, worked their way up through the pack over the course of the race. Audrey [Blazek] was our top runner and did a fantastic job, as well as Denise [Branch], Valerie [Bobart] and Amanda [Fox]."
Leading the Orange and Blue for the fourth time this season, Blazek improved upon her Les Bolstad personal-best time by nearly a full minute, clocking a 22:28.8 performance today that bettered her Roy Griak time of 23:16 earlier this season.
Continuing the scoring for the Illini this morning was the trio of Denise Branch (53rd/22:37.2), Valerie Bobart (55th/22:39.2) and Amanda Fox (60th/22:43.5). Benefiting from the improved conditions compared to six weeks ago, each of the three Illini were able to improve upon their times from the last time they raced on the course.
Rounding out the point-scorers for Coach Jones was true freshman Diane Lipa. After clocking 26:05 at the Roy Griak Invite back in September, the Glen Ellyn, Illinois native shaved more than two minutes off of that time today finishing in 23:44.0 to place inside the top-10.
"Diane played a key role in where we finished as a team," explained Jones. "I thought she had a heroic race. I was very proud of her effort. She ran more than two minutes faster than the last time we were on this course. As a freshman coming in, not necessarily expecting to show that level of responsibility, the way she stepped up was really clutch for us today."
Hanna Winter (102nd/23:59.6), Kim Seger (111th/24:20.0), Megan Lemersal (116th/24:38.4) and Julia Schultz (124th/25:35.7) concluded the group of nine Illini on the course today.
Up next, the Illini will prepare for the NCAA Midwest Regional meet on November 11. Held at the Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City, Iowa, the Illini will enter the meet with confidence after winning the Iowa Regional Preview meet on the course on October 1.
"We go to Iowa, a place we have positive memories of, so we certainly we want to build on this," said Jones. "I don't think we've achieved what we're capable of achieving as a team, so there should be real motivation to show what this team is capable of and have that be springboard into the track season."
Team Scores:
1.Michigan – 63
2.Penn State – 70
3.Michigan State – 80
4. Minnesota – 120
5.Ohio State – 130
10.Illinois – 286
Illinois Individual Results:
46. Audrey Blazek, 22:28.2
53. Denise Branch, 22:37.2
55. Valerie Bobart, 22:39.2
60. Amanda Fox, 22:43.5
98. Diane Lipa, 23:44.0
102. Hanna Winter, 23:59.6
111. Kim Seger, 24:20.0
116. Megan Lemersal, 24:38.4
124. Julia Schultz, 25:35.7
