In the biggest event of the cross country season, senior Halle Hill was the lone Illini at the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 23. The event was hosted at the beautiful Thomas Zimmer Championship Course for the second time in the course’s history. It was a familiar course for Hill, who had competed there before when facing Wisconsin and for the Big Ten championship last year.
Hill’s toughest test
Going up against all of the top runners in the country is no easy task. Hill had her work cut out from the get-go after finishing No. 16 at the Big Ten meet. Hill ended up placing a respectable 197 out of 254 runners on the women’s side. She ended up with a time of 21:09.6 on the course to end her remarkable season.
Fantastic finish
It felt right that Hill ended her career in a championship event, capping off quite a season. It’s been a fantastic couple of weeks for Hill, as she just broke the 6k Illinois school record this postseason. Angela Bizzarri previously held the record for 15 years.
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This performance earned Hill Second-Team All-Big Ten honors, only bolstering an already strong resume. She punched her ticket through the NCAA Midwest Regionals and was the dominant Illini all season long. Illinois cross country will take on life without Hill, needing runners to step up and continue the NCAA success.
