Aug. 29, 2008

Results

ILLINI CHALLENGE PHOTO GALLERY

URBANA, Ill. - Keyed by sophomore Jess Husted's second-place finish, the Illinois State women's cross country won the Illini Open with six runners crossing the finish line in the top-10 of the women's 4K race, while the Redbird men took second in the men's 6K Friday evening at the Illinois Arboretum.

The women won the field with 28 points, while Rend Lake College took second with 52 points and was followed by Illinois (54 points) who came in third. Northern Illinois (fourth place), Lincoln College (fifth place) and Danville Area Community College (sixth place) rounded out the teams competing.

"I was pleased with the women's effort," said head Illinois State cross country coach Jeff Bovee. "I felt like even with tired legs the women went out and raced as a team. I felt good with the way they ran their first race."

Husted ran a personal-best 14 minutes, 47.96 seconds to lead the Redbird women. Freshman Aisha Praught (14:53.37); and sophomores Kirsten Lang (14:53.55), Olivia Myers (15:06.20) and Sarah Glowacki (15:09.94) finished as a pack taking fifth, through eighth, respectively.

"Jess was in fourth place at the 3,000-meter mark and you could tell that she was hurting, but she is tough," said Bovee. "She is willing and capable to dig down deep and that is why she put her chin down and kept pushing forward. I felt like she was moving well towards the end."

"Rob was leading this race between the 3,000 and 4,000 meters," said Bovee. "He is confident and is no longer just a track guy, he is a cross country guy now. He got excited early and was not able to hold the lead. To have the confidence to take the lead and shake it up was impressive."

The men's team filed in across the finish line with sophomore Jon Roberts (19:30.18) crossing the finish line in 13th place. Freshman Rich Eber was the third Redbird to finish, placing 19th with a time of 19:51.26. Sophomore Jim Link (19:51.78) and freshman Kevin Grady (20:02.84) finished just behind Eber in 20th and 21st, respectively.

The Illinois State men's and women's cross country team will take three weeks off to train before running at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships Sept. 19 at Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State University.