Sept. 17, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State has announced a complete list of entrants for the second-consecutive running of the Illinois Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships. A total of 55 teams are set to compete at the championship meet, as last year marked the first time the meet was ran following a 21-year hiatus. The meet will be held at the Weibring Gold Club at Illinois State University Friday. The women's 5K championship race will begin at 4:30 p.m., and will be followed by the men's 8K at 5:15 p.m. A women's and men's open race is scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m., and 6:30 p.m., respectively, following the running of the championship races.
A total of 28 women's teams and 27 men's teams that spread across the State of Illinois and represent the NCAA, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), will be in attendance.
"This is an opportunity for Illinois State to show off is facilities and campus," said Illinois State head cross country coach Jeff Bovee. "We see this as more than just a cross country meet, this is the state championship. This meets decides who is going to take home the rights to best team in Illinois, no matter what division or level.
"We anticipate that this meet is going to bring in about two thousand people, between runners, spectators, fans, family and friends; so we want to host a top-of-the-line event so everyone can leave having had a great experience."
Of the 28 women's teams, four are nationally ranked in their respective divisions, and those include: No. 10 Illinois (NCAA Division I); No. 6 Rend Lake (NJCAA); No. 15 Illinois Central (NJCAA); and No. 21 Saint Xavier (NAIA).
Four of the 27 men's teams are also nationally-ranked, and include: No. 7 North Central (NCAA Division III); No. 10 Augustana (NCAA Division III); No. 10 Illinois Central College (NJCAA); and No. 18 Olivet Nazarene (NAIA).
"One of the draws of this event is athletes are going to get to carry on their high school rivalries," said Bovee. "Since this is a state of Illinois meet, most of the athletes that compete at Illinois colleges are from Illinois high schools, so they get to carry on their high school rivalries into college. The beautiful thing about this meet is that it doesn't matter whether a team is NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA or from a junior college. Regardless of what level athletes are running at they are getting to compete against familiar faces as well as race against athletes that they normally would not be able to race against."
The Illinois Intercollegiates features seven NCAA Division I, nine NCAA Division III, eight NAIA and four NJCAA programs.
The Illinois men (11 titles) and women (three titles) won the 2007 races, and will return to defend their titles. Other previous winners of the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships include: Illinois State women (two titles; last in 1986); Illinois State men (two titles; last in 1985); Northwestern women (one title; last in 1983); Southern Illinois (one title; last in 1976); Southern Illinois men (six titles; last in 1984); and Western Illinois women (five titles; last in 1981).
The Illinois Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships began in 1968, with the men's race ending in 1985 and the women's race stopping just a year later in 1986. ISU revitalized the meet last year. In the 18 years that the Intercollegiates were run prior to 2007, the race was hosted by different schools on their home course each year. The women's race began in 1976 and was not held in conjunction with the men's meet until 1981.
A complete printable list of the entrants for the Illinois Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships is available in a PDF file at the top of this release. Final results from the meet will be distributed after the conclusion of the day's races on the official Illinois State Athletics Web site www.GoRedbirds.com and will be located on the sidebar under "Illinois Intercollegiate Championship Central," or by visiting the ISU cross country sport home page.
