Oct. 14, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's and women's cross country teams will head in different directions this weekend for their fourth meets of the 2010 season. The women's team will compete in the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Ind., Saturday starting at 10 a.m., while the men's team will travel to Peoria, Ill., to compete in the Bradley Classic Friday beginning at 4:45 p.m.
Seven Redbird women will compete in the 6K Blue Division race in Terre Haute, while five more will compete in the open race. Running in the Blue Division will be seniors Jess Husted, Kirsten Lang and Olivia Myers, along with junior Aisha Praught, sophomores Samantha Bluske and Brea Tinney, and freshman Kristen Zimmer. Freshmen Ruth Allen, Kimberly Christensen, Megan Fry, Shannon Nemetz and Annette White will represent Illinois State in the 6K open race at 12:30 p.m.
"Terre Haute's course is a beautiful setting for a cross country meet," said head cross country coach Jeff Bovee. "It is a challenging course and it is a true course. Runners look forward to going there and competing against top teams from around the country. For us, our main focus is improving on our performance at Louisville."
The women's team will compete against Missouri Valley Conference opponent Wichita State at the 6K race.
"Wichita State will be in our division Saturday," said Bovee. "They have won the Missouri Valley Conference five-straight years and we are sitting right behind them. In the preseason polls, we were seeded second behind Wichita. We are really looking forward to competing against them."
Competing for the men at the 8K Bradley Classic will be seniors Matt Mroczynski and Jon Roberts, junior Jim Link and John Navarro, sophomores Blake Brooks, Steven Regan and Mat Smoody with freshman Erik Stanton. It will be the first competition of the 2010 season for Roberts.
"The guys need to bounce back from the Greater Louisville Classic two weekends ago," said Bovee. "A big for us will be Jon, who will be running his first race of the season. In his first race, we are expecting him to be a top-five guy for us, but as the season goes on he could be our No. 2 or No. 3 guy. Jon will be a nice improvement, as well as Blake. He has been cutting down on his 8K times."
The men's team will compete against Missouri Valley Conference rivals Bradley, Drake, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois, as well as eight in-state opponents.
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