After a rough outing in the Nuttycombe Invite, Illinois went into Wisconsin with revenge on its mind. Leading up to this point, the team had only participated in one tournament with over 20 teams. The men finished just 22nd and the women finished 23rd, which made Pre-Nationals important for a bounce-back.
Another trip to Madison, Wisconsin presented the most difficult collection of teams Illinois would face all year, headlined by Purdue and Ohio State. In a fantastic bounce-back performance, the Illini men finished in second and the women placed eighth.
Dominant Performances from Hill and Partlow
For the women, senior Halle Hill was dominant on the 6k with a time of 20:35.0. This fantastic performance led her to a 6th-place finish on the day. On the men’s side, junior Alex Partlow performed well in the 8k, which included a 24:16.4 time. Partlow would go on to place 11th in the event.
With all of their hard efforts, the men’s team tallied 148 points to land their second-place finish. The women would have a solid day as well, scoring 256 points. While that wasn’t quite enough to secure a podium top three finish, it was a nice sight after the previous meet.
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Future Outlook for Illinois
It’s also worth noting that the men’s teams out-placed multiple well-known programs. The teams they beat included Ohio State (3rd), Yale (4th), Florida (7th), Pittsburgh (13) and Minnesota (14). Overall, the men’s team posted impressive times across the board, with five runners finishing under the 25-minute mark. Junior Alex Partlow, junior Brady Masters, senior Tyler Cushing, graduate student Joshua Daggett and graduate student Stephen Moody all accomplished the feat.
For the women and their 6k, they had three runners beat the the 22-minute mark. Sophomore Avril Andre, senior Halle Hill and senior Sam Poglitsch all ran under 22 minutes to lead Illinois on Saturday.
After a great performance this past weekend, the team wants to build on this momentum as the Big Ten Championships approach. With the season winding down, Illinois is hosting the event on Nov. 1. The event will be held at the Orange and Blue Golf Course in Savoy, which will be a nice change of pace from the travel. Partlow and Hill are looking to carry their strong performance over to the Big Ten Championship. The team is heating up just in time for one of the most important events of the year.
