It was a day of two different stories for the Illini as the women’s cross country team flourished at Pre-Nationals tying for fourth place, while the men’s team struggled to 28th place.

For the No. 17 women’s team, senior Katie Engel led the team with a career day, finishing in third place in the 6K race with a time of 20 minutes, 23 seconds, her personal best and the third-fastest time in Illini history.

“Obviously I’m really, really happy, I was pretty surprised,” Engel said. “I wasn’t really expecting to do that well, I was hoping, but I wasn’t expecting it. I’m really happy with how the team did as well.”

Junior Angela Bizzarri came in second for the Orange and Blue with a 13th place individual finish on her season debut.

“Everybody has continued to believe in themselves a little bit more every race and build confidence,” women’s head coach Jeremy Rasmussen said. “Obviously, Katie is really figuring out how good she can be and Angela coming out for her first race and obviously she ran really well, and I expect her to be with Katie at the Big Ten meet.”

The rest of the women’s team ran in the Bradley Classic on Friday finishing in eighth out of 15, led by junior Ashley Thompson.

While it was a strong display for the Illinois women’s team, the men’s team struggled against the nation’s premier cross country programs. Junior Jeremy Stevens once again led the Illini with a 99th place individual finish.

“Overall we were a little bit disappointed,” men’s head coach Wendel McRaven said. “There were a couple guys that had really solid races, but I felt like overall we didn’t quite run up to where we thought we were.”

Although the results were unsatisfactory for the Orange and Blue, the team is aiming to bounce back for the remainder of the season.

“I think they walked away kind of ticked off and ready to correct the things that are correctable between now and the Big Ten meet and the Regional meet,” McRaven said. “It’s a young group, it’s a talented group of guys, it’s a competitive group of guys, and we’re right there on the cut of running well.”

Next up for the Orange and Blue teams will be hosting the Illini Open on Oct. 24, their final meet before Championship season starts up with Big Ten on Nov. 2.