Posted: 6/2/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: John Paul Goguen LaNeisha Waller leaps over the final hurdle of the 60 meter hurdles during the Big Ten Championships at the Armory, Sunday, February 25, 2007.

What a way to go out.

In his 23rd and final season as the head coach of the women's track and field team, Gary Winckler witnessed one of Illinois' best NCAA Regional Championship performances. The Illini boasted impressive results, both as a team and individually. Illinois finished fifth overall with 40 points, the best finish in school history, and was only one point behind fourth-place finisher and Big Ten foe Michigan.

"(The fifth-place finish) was pretty good for us with a young team," Winckler said. "We were in one of the toughest regionals."

Winckler and the Illini have more than just a solid team finish to hang their cleats on. At least four Illini will be heading to Des Moines, Iowa, for the NCAA Championships, held June 11-14, with the potential for a total of six representatives.

Youth reigned supreme for Illinois, led by freshmen Danelle Woods and Chantelle Groenewoud. Woods and Groenewoud finished first and second, respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final with Woods taking the title in a time of 10 minutes, 32.83 seconds. Needless to say, Winckler was impressed by his freshmen duo.

"For two freshmen to go one, two in the steeplechase is good, outstanding in fact," Winckler said.

Going into the event, Woods was ranked first in the region, which she demonstrated by leading for most of the race.

"I was just trying to go out there and compete and get to nationals," Woods said in a press release. "Once I broke off from the pack, I felt comfortable and relaxed and got to control the race. I'm really proud of Chantelle finishing second. It will be great to have her to compete with at NCAAs."

Groenewoud qualified for the NCAA Championships after finishing strong, eking out her second-place finish three one-hundredths of a second ahead of Michigan State's Sarah Price, who came in third.

Sophomore Angela Bizzarri, though an underclassman, will have experience when competing at the NCAA Championships. The Mason, Ohio, native won the 5,000 meter race Friday night and returns to the national stage after competing in the NCAA Championships in the 1,500 meter last season.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools

The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.

The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.

If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.