At last year’s Big Ten Championships, the Illinois women’s cross country team finished eighth out of 14 teams.

Despite a strong effort this year, the Illini dropped two spots, finishing 10th.

“My emotions today are positive,” head coach Scott Jones said. “We performed as well as we could, it seemed today. The top four really stepped up, they maintained discipline, and worked their way up through the course of the race.”

Michigan’s Erin Finn came in first individually, clocking in at 20 minutes and 37.3 seconds.

The first Illinois runner to cross the finish line was Audrey Blazek. She placed 46th with a time of 22:28.8. She finished 58th last year but with a better time of 21:35.6.

“Audrey was our number one runner, and she did a fantastic job,” Jones said. “Also, Denise (Branch), Val (Bobart) and Amanda (Fox) did a great job”

The team’s trio stayed together as Branch finished second for the Illini in 53rd place running a 22:37.2. Bobart crossed the line 2.0 seconds after Branch for 55th place, and Fox — the third to cross the finish line for the Illini — finished 60th overall in 22:43.5.

Freshman Diane Lipa made her Big Tens debut Sunday, landing the fifth spot for the Illini with a 23:44.0. Lipa ran more than two minutes faster than the last time the team ran the course earlier this season at the Roy Griak Invite.

“Diane was our fifth runner and played a real key role in our finish as a team,” Jones said. “I thought she had a heroic race. I was very proud of her effort.”

Following behind Lipa were Hanna Winter (23:59.6) and Kim Seger (24:20.0). Both have ran in previous Big Ten Championships.

The Illini have two weeks before their next race at the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 11.

“There should be real motivation to show what this team is capable of and to finish up our season on a positive note,” Jones said. “We definitely want to go in there and be a top ten team in our region and see where that gets us.”

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