Sept. 15, 2011
Meet Preview with Jeff Bovee
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's and women's cross country teams will host the Illinois Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships Friday at the Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State University. The women will compete in the 5K race at 5 p.m., 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 a men's 8K race.
A total of 35 women's teams and 34 men's teams from across the state of Illinois will participate in the meet. The 69 teams will represent the three divisions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
Head cross country coach Jeff Bovee feels that the Illinois Intercollegiate will provide some of the toughest competition the meet has seen.
"The women's meet will be very competitive," said Bovee. "Loyola, Bradley and Eastern Illinois have improved the past few years and will be bringing some of their best teams to race. We are the favorite this year because of our finish last year and our current ranking, but in order for us to win, we are going to have to run well."
"The men's race is a different story," said Bovee. "We are still young and there is a lot of unknown, but one thing is for sure, they will run hard. For most of our guys, this is the start of their career here at Illinois State and this will be their first chance to get a taste of true competition. I think they will rise to the occasion and do well."
The race will showcase five NCAA Division I, 12 NCAA Division III, eight NAIA and 11 NJCAA programs. Illinois won the 2010 men's 8K Intercollegiate Championship title, while Northwestern won the women's 5K title.
Out of the 35 women's teams, eight programs are nationally or regionally ranked in their respective divisions. Those include No. 12 Illinois State (NCAA Division I-Midwest Region), No. 15 Bradley (NCAA Division I-Midwest Region), No. 5 Chicago (NCAA Division III-Midwest Region), No. 8 North Central (NCAA Division III-Midwest Region), No. 10 Illinois Wesleyan (NCAA Division III-Midwest Region), No. 12 Danville Area Community College (NJCAA) and No. 18 Carl Sandburg Collge (NJCAA).
On the men's side, 10 teams are nationally or regionally ranked in their respective divisions. Those include No. 13 Loyola-Chicago (NCAA Division I-Midwest Region), No. 14 Eastern Illinois (NCAA Division I-Midwest Region), No. 1 North Central (NCAA Division III and Midwest Region), No. 12 Augustana (NCAA Division III and No. 4 Midwest Region), No. 21 Chicago (NCAA Division III and No. 7 Midwest Region), No. 9 Danville Area Community College (NJCAA), No. 10 Lincoln College (NJCAA), No. 23 Morton College (NJCAA), No. 18 Olivet Nazarene (NAIA) and No. 24 St. Francis (NAIA).
The Illinois Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships began in 1968 and ended in 1985 for the men's race, while the women's race started in 1976 and ended in 1986. ISU revitalized the meet in 2007.
Final results from the meet will be distributed after the conclusion of the Friday's races on the official Illinois State Athletics Web site, GoRedbirds.com, located on the cross country sidebar under "Illinois Intercollegiate Championship Central," or by visiting the ISU cross country sport home page.
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