June 4, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State head cross country coach Jeff Bovee announced that the 2008 men's and women's cross country schedule has been finalized, and will feature one home contest and nine road meets.
The Illinois Intercollegiate Championships, which is in its second year, will highlight the cross country schedule. ISU will host the championships September 19 and the meet will feature different divisions of colleges and universities from around the state of Illinois.
Bovee is excited to be hosting the meet for a second-straight year and hopes this year will be even better than last year's championship.
"We have about 22 teams confirmed on both the men's and women's side and for the most part the same teams that competed last year will return," said Bovee. "We will be adding Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois, which will definitely add to the depth of the field. We will also return Illinois, Rend Lake, North Central and Augustana as well as a handful of other schools. When you bring all the top programs in their respective divisions in the state together it really makes for a state championship meet. We are excited to draw a quality field.
"We are going to add chip timing this year and I think that it will add to the efficiency of the meet. We are going to have team scores and individual splits at the 3K mark and then again at the finish. Since this will be the meet's second year; I think that it will be even better than last year."
The ISU schedule is a mix of tough and intermediate levels of competition, and is designed to challenge the younger student-athletes as well as prepare the squad's top-eight runners for the competition of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference and the NCAA Midwest Regional.
The Redbirds will kick off their fall competition schedule with the Illini Open hosted by Illinois at the Illinois Arboretum in Urbana, Ill., August 29 at 5 p.m., then take two weeks off before racing again at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships. They will then send a group to compete at the Augustana College Brissman-Ludeen Invitational held in Davenport, Iowa September 26.
The `Birds will be competing once again in the prestigious Notre Dame Invitational (October 3), however this year ISU will be running in the fast race. Since the Notre Dame Invitational draws a wide range of schools, it is broken down into two divisions: the top-tier Blue Division and the second-tier Gold Division. Last season the Redbirds competed in the Gold Division and will move up to the Blue Division this year.
Illinois State will also make a trip to Peoria, Ill., (Bradley Classic) on October 17 and will return to Urbana, Ill., October 24 for a dual meet with Illinois. On October 18, the `Birds will send their top-performers to compete at the NCAA Pre-Nationals hosted by Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind., before heading to the Valley Championship, hosted by Missouri State, in Springfield, Mo., November 1.
The Redbird runners will also have the opportunity to race at the NCAA Midwest Regional (November 15), which will be hosted by Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. MVC member Indiana State will host the 2008 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Nov. 24 at the Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
"I think this is definitely the most competitive schedule that we have had in a long time," said Bovee. "Competing at pre-nationals is probably the most competitive field that you can find throughout the year and Notre Dame is also a high-quality meet," said Bovee. "My goal with the schedule this year was to meet the needs of all of the student-athletes that we have on both the men's and women's sides. We have some athletes that are ready to run with some of the best runners in the country and then we have some developing athletes because our team is still very young.
"We are going to have 16 new distance runners this year and at least 16 sophomores so you have to give those athletes opportunities to develop, which is why we have more meets this season. Our runners are only going to compete in four to six races this year, and their performance after the summer training and how they develop during the season will dictate which races they will compete in."
2008 Cross Country Schedule 
