The Illinois women’s cross country team’s first-ever NCAA Midwest Region Championship title on Saturday brought more than just happiness. It brought relief, head coach Karen Harvey said. After a disappointing fifth-place finish at Big Tens on Oct. 29, the Illini hardly looked like the same team that came in fifth place at the NCAA Championships last year.

Not only did Illinois keep last year’s team intact, but it added an influx of new freshmen. And after their slow start this year, Harvey could only wait and see if they would make a repeat trip to nationals.

“That’s the team I knew existed before Big Tens,” Harvey said. “You can look like that in practice, but you have to put it together in a race and execute. All (assistant coach) Kevin (Sullivan) and I could do was wait for them to do it.”

The regional title automatically qualified Illinois for its third berth to the NCAA Championships, which will be held on Nov. 20 at the Wabash Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind.

Illinois finished with 44 points, while sixth-ranked Minnesota came in second with 49 points. Iowa came in third place with 118 points during Saturday’s 6K race.

“They made a statement like, ‘We want to run at the front,’ Harvey said. “You have to take the gamble and risk a fall in order to fly.”

Freshman Angela Bizzarri, who finished second overall with a time of 20:47, led five Illini runners that finished in the top 15. Bizzarri, a Mason, Ohio, native who didn’t have much national experience coming out of high school, is now turning heads.

“She ran a smart race; she went after the win, but she was really brave out there,” Harvey said.

Senior Stephanie Simms finished in fifth place with a time of 21:02. Junior Maggie Carroll and senior Cassie Hunt finished in 11th and 12th places with times of 21:17 and 21:19, respectively. Freshman Stephanie Baliga rounded out the top 15 with a 14th-place finish and time of 21:30. Sophomore Katie Engel (18th place) and junior Rachel Hernandez (31st place) also competed for the Illini.

Missing from many of Illinois’ meets, especially the Big Tens, was the same intensity that the Illini brought to practices and training sessions. But in Minnesota, the Illini brought their competitiveness to a racing situation.

“We have a lot of veteran runners and they ran so well together,” Harvey said. “They worked hard like they do at (their training site) Lake of the Woods.”

The Illini now will have to come up with a “really good racing strategy,” Harvey said. Although Harvey isn’t sure what nationals will hold for the Illini, she said anything can happen.

“Obviously, I would love to be in the top 10,” Harvey said. “We’ll put it all out there and see what happens.”