After running into adverse weather conditions last weekend in Arizona, the Illini, competing in three different locations, qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships in 13 events. Eight of the 13 qualified for the first time this season.

Illinois started its long weekend of qualifying Thursday at the Mt. SAC Relays, with junior Alecia Beckford-Stewart qualifying in the heptathlon and sophomore Chantelle Groenewoud in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.

Two more Illini qualified on Friday, including freshman Kristin Sutherland and junior Angela Bizzarri in the 5,000 meters.

Bizzarri’s time of 15 minutes, 37.39 seconds broke her own school record of 15:45.78 and is currently the fastest collegiate time in the nation this season.

Competing in the invitational division, Bizzarri finished third behind two professional athletes and 2008 Olympians, including Kenya’s Philes Moraa Ongori who finished first in 15:23.33.

After finishing runner-up in last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships, the 5,000 is going to be Bizzarri’s focus this season.

“It’s definitely good to get a chance to see where you’re at,” Bizzarri said. “I think sometimes you train well, but you can’t always know how that’s going to transfer into a race.”

Illinois distance coach Jeremy Rasmussen was pleased not only with Bizzarri’s performance but all of his distance runners, many of whom tallied personal bests.

“Being able to come out and do well in their first race shows a lot, you gain a lot from that first experience with that event,” Rasmussen said. “It’s always good to know that you are where you thought you would be.”

Strong performances in practice also led head coach Tonja Buford-Bailey to expect the final four new regional-qualifying times, which were achieved at the LSU Alumni Gold Meet in Baton Rouge, La.

Buford-Bailey wasn’t worried after last week’s disappointment in Arizona because strong performances in practice foreshadowed the performances that her team showed last weekend.

And now that they’ve had their best week of the outdoor season, practices will be a little more laid back leading up to next weekend’s Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.

“That’s the key. Because we’ve been traveling week after week after week, we need a little bit of a break from the training,” Buford-Bailey said.

From the looks of it, the Illini will be back to training in the Armory on Monday.

“We’re still training indoors, so it does serve another challenge, competing on a bigger track and training on a smaller track,” Buford-Bailey said.

While the weather has yet to cooperate consistently with the women during practice, it was beautiful in Champaign during the weekend while they were competing.

“It would be nice if it were like that on the days we were there training,” Buford-Bailey chuckled.