This Friday, the Illini’s best distance runners will compete in the Fighting Illini Big Ten Preview at the Orange and Blue Golf Course in Savoy. This competition marks the first races in Illinois for both men’s and women’s teams.
Last week, the teams took part in the Badger Classic to kick off their 2024 season. Senior Daniella Hubble finished third across the board in the 6k with a time of 21 minutes, 13.6 seconds. Behind her was sophomore Avril Andre who placed fourth with a personal best time. Then, a tie for fifth came from seniors Halle Hill and Sam Poglitsch who finished with a time of 21:14.2.
On the men’s side of things, the top five Illini all fell very close to one another in their 6k as well. Senior Tyler Cushing finished in fifth place, and right behind him was senior Anthony Maida in sixth place. After them, junior Alex Partlow finished with a personal best time of 18:18.5. Eighth and ninth place were snatched by graduate student Joshua Daggett and junior Brady Masters. All the athletes’ times were only separated by a mere 0.4 seconds.
Friday’s meet will likely pose more of a challenge to the Illini. This time around, there are eight other schools who will bring their runners to the course. Illinois will face off against runners from Butler, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin.
This Big Ten Preview will give all the competitors a good sense of what the championships will look like. Illinois will host the Big Ten championships in November. This makes it the first time in 23 years that the program has a home-course advantage.
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Last weekend’s meet was filled with numerous personal bests for many Illini. With even more competitors this weekend, some Illini are likely to continue this hot streak and finish with the race of their lives.
The women’s 6k begins at 5 p.m. on Friday. Following that, the men’s 8k will take place at 5:45 p.m.
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