The tenth ranked Illini women’s cross country team will face tough competition this weekend at pre-nationals in Indiana. This is the first big meet for the women as they will compete against 22 ranked teams in a 30 team field.

Senior Rachel Hernandez will compete for the fourth time this weekend. She hopes the team and herself can leave it all on the course.

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“Just knowing that … I guess you can say I’ve gotten better throughout the year, so I want to progress or have a better performance than I have in the past three years,” Hernandez said. “So whether that be placing in the top 50, that’s the ideal.”

Hernandez hopes the recent temperature drop is a sign fall is here to stay. Running in the 90 degree heat longer than expected has not been fun for the team.

Hernandez says she loves running when the sun isn’t out and the temperatures are milder.

“This is our ideal weather,” Hernandez said. “We’re used to being out here in this weather and a lot of the time in the winter we’re out there in the snow running so this isn’t bad at all.”

Hernandez and the rest of the team should enjoy their run Saturday. The forecast in Terre Haute calls for partly sunny and mid-60s. The women’s race is set to begin at 12:20 p.m.