Oct. 29, 2005
Complete Results
Betsy McDonald's time of 18:05.03 on the 5K course helped the Illinois State women's cross country team to a 6th place team finish at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships Saturday morning in Evansville, Ind. Captains, McDonald and Dan Tripp once again proved that they were the leaders of their respective teams recording top times for the Redbirds.
McDonald's time was good enough for 19th place, while freshman Kathleen Thompson (18:11.63) and Kim Smudde (18:12.30) earned 21st and 22nd places respectively. Head coach cross country coach Chris Bailey wasn't so impressed with the overall team finish, but was very pleased with the performance of Smudde.
"The women's performance was disappointing," said Bailey. I thought going into the race we had a couple girls who could compete in the top twelve but we just didn't put it together today. However, Kim (Smudde) ran a great race for us."
Other notable performances on the women's team included Suzy Turner (18:15.49) in 25th place and Natalie Scantena (19:06.96) in 46th place.
Taking the title in the women's race was favorite Wichita State with 37 points, followed by Missouri State (74), Southern Illinois (96), Northern Iowa (100), Indiana State (110) and Illinois State in sixth with 133 points.
Finishing with three freshman and a sophomore in the top five for the Redbirds keeps Bailey optimistic for the future.
"We're very young and inexperience," said Bailey. "I think in the next few years we should see some great things from this group of women."
The men's team finished two spots ahead of last season in 8th place, beating Evansville and Creighton. Tripp took the top spot for the Redbirds in 24th with a time of 25:32.47 on the 8K course. Jeremy Doherty, only two seconds behind Tripp sealed the 25th spot, while freshman Mike Richardson placed 33rd (25:42.73).
Bailey was pleased with the top three performances on the men's team, but felt the rest of the team didn't come prepared to step up to the challenge.
"Today was disappointing for the men's team," said Bailey. "I think we had a chance to be in the top sixth and with our fourth through sixth runners not stepping up it really hurt us. But Dan, Jeremy and Mike ran really tough for us today and I was proud of them for that."
Rounding out the top five places for the Redbirds were Geoff Houtman (26:04.79) in 46th place and Brian Glaza (26:50.26) in 62nd place.
In the team standings, Indiana State ran away with the men's title with 35 points followed by Drake (75) and Southern Illinois (104).
The men's team wrapped up the season this weekend at the championships and will now focus on getting ready for the track season which will begin December 10, 2005 with a home track meet to be held at Horton Field House. However, the women's team will continue cross country competition as they prepare over the next two weeks for the NCAA Midwest Regionals at Iowa on Saturday, November 12.
