Sept. 16, 2009
NORMAL, Ill -
Illinois State has announced the teams that will compete in the Illinois Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships Friday. A total of 65 teams will participate in the meet that will be held at the Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State University. The women will compete in the 5K race at 5 p.m., and will be followed by the men's 8K race at 5:45 p.m. The meet will start at 4:15 p.m., with an open women's 5K race and men's 8K race.
A total of 33 women's teams and 32 men's teams from across the state of Illinois will represent the three divisions of the National College Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
Head coach Jeff Bovee feels that the Redbirds will have a successful showing at the championship meet.
"Scott Krapf and Matt Mroczynski will be running with the best of the other teams, and I expect them to be at the front competing against No. 1 and No. 2 of the other teams. I think the men's team will do well on Friday," said Bovee.
"The women's team is a different story than the men's team," said Bovee. "We have a large group of juniors and a senior with more collective experience than the men's team. The women have many different weapons and it will be interesting to see how they perform. I feel that the women should do well with a lot of Redbirds at the front of the group."
The races will showcase six NCAA Division I, 12 NCAA Division III, 6 NAIA and 10 NJCAA programs. The Illinois men's and women's teams won the 2008 Intercollegiate Championship titles.
Out of the 33 women's teams, five programs are nationally- or regionally-ranked in their respective divisions. Those include No. 2 Illinois (NCAA Division I-Midwest Region), No. 12 Illinois State (NCAA Division I-Midwest Region), No. 5 Rend Lake (NJCAA) and No. 6 Illinois Central (NJCAA), and No.16 St. Xavier (NAIA).
On the men's side, seven teams are nationally- or regionally-ranked in their respective divisions. Those include No. 9 Illinois (NCAA Division I-Midwest Region), No. 12 Illinois State (NCAA Division I-Midwest Region), No. 1 North Central (NCAA Division III), No. 11 Augustana (NCAA Division III), No. 1 Rend Lake (NJCAA), No. 9 Illinois Central (NJCAA),and No. 8 Olivet Nazarene (NAIA).
The Illinois Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships began in 1968, with the men's race ending in 1985 and the women's race stopping in 1986. ISU revitalized the meet in 2007.
Final results from the meet will be distributed after the conclusion of the day's races on the official Illinois State Athletics Web site, GoRedbirds.com, located on the sidebar under "Illinois Intercollegiate Championship Central," or by visiting the ISU cross country sport home page.
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