The Illinois women’s cross-country team finished 10th out of 31 teams at the Bradley Pink Classic.

Head coach Scott Jones was disappointed in the team’s performance, and said he knew they could have performed better. 

“Our final placement wasn’t as strong as it should have been.” Jones said. “We had some individual bright spots. Overall, as a team, I think we were a little disappointed.”

Only three of the Illini runners placed in the top-50 at the race.

Junior Denise Branch, who has finished either first or second for the team in every meet this season, finished 17th with a time at 21 minutes and 18 seconds.

Senior Amanda Fox finished behind Branch at 21:45, good for 32nd place.

Coach Jones believed those two runners did a great job fighting through the 6k and finishing on top for the team.

“I thought Denise ran very well,” Jones said. “Amanda Fox could have put herself in a better position at the beginning of the race but pulled through and didn’t give up.”

Junior Audrey Blazek, who has finished first for the Illini in the last three meets, finished 46th overall with a time of 21:52.

Despite some solid showings, the team did not do as well as it would have liked. Jones said there are many things that contributed to the disappointing results.

“Our strength of our team is that we have four or five individuals that at any given day could be our No. 1 runner. When we’ve competed as a disciplined and cohesive group, we perform very well,” Jones said. “Sometimes that’s more difficult to do in a bigger meet, as well as keep the integrity in our group.”

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