Nov. 12, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
After a third and second place finish at the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Cross Country Championships, the Illinois State men's and women's cross country teams will head up I-74 to Peoria, Ill., Saturday to compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships at the Newman Golf Course.
The NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, hosted by Bradley, will assemble individuals from 29 men's squads and 33 women's teams. The Regional will be highlighted by the defending men's national champion and No. 1 ranked Oklahoma State.
The Redbird men's and women's cross country teams enter Saturday's contest both ranked No. 12, in the NCAA Division I Midwest Regional Rankings, as voted on by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
Last season, the men's team finished the regional with 333 points for 12th place, while the women took 13th with 332 points.
Competing on Saturday for the men's team will be seniors Matt Mroczynski and Jon Roberts, juniors Jim Link and John Navarro along with sophomores Blake Brooks and Mat Smoody and freshman Erik Stanton.
"Each week we keep getting better and better on the men's side," said head cross country coach Jeff Bovee. "We need John and Jim to step up and run as well as they did at conference, but we also need our top-three guys Matt, Jon and Blake to record top finishes."
On the women's side, seniors Jess Husted, Kirsten Lang and Olivia Myers, junior Aisha Praught along with sophomores Samantha Bluske and Brea Tinney and freshman Kristen Zillmer, will be running in Saturday's race.
"The women are going to have to beat Illinois, Northwestern and Wichita State, a couple of teams we have been close to all season, to finish in the top-10," said Bovee. "It will be a difficult task as those schools have strong runners."
The top-two teams in each race along with the top-four individual finishers not on the top-two teams will receive automatic berths into the NCAA Championship, which will be held on Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.
"Both teams are ranked 12th going into Saturday's regional, and we want to shoot for a top-10 finish and have a strong finish to the season," said Bovee. "We have a lot riding on this week, and we are looking forward to the competition."
The women's 6K race is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., and will be followed by the men's 10K race at 12:15 p.m.
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