Bizzarri gets 3rd place at USA Championships

Illinois' Angela Bizzarri competes in the women's one-mile run at the UI Armory on Jan. 27, 2007. Bizzarri went on the win the race. On Friday, Bizarri placed third at the USA Track and Field Championships.
Brad Vest The Daily Illini

Initially hoping for at least a solid top ten finish at the meet, Bizzarri's chances to move up increased before the race even started, according to Illinois distance coach Jeremy Rasmussen.

"I think there were three or four really good girls who just decided to run a different race at the championships, so it opened the field up a little bit," Rasmussen said. "We didn't really know until the start of the race who was running in it."

That's not to say the competition proved easy to overcome. The top 14 competitors all ran faster than Bizzarri's NCAA title time of 16 minutes, 17.94 seconds, and the top six beat her previous personal-best of 15:37.39. Kara Goucher of Nike won the race in 15:20.94, while Bizzarri timed 15:33.02.

According to Rasmussen, the high-quality field is exactly what Bizzarri was hoping for.

"For her, getting in to a race like this, you hope it will be faster," he said. "Anytime that Angela goes out there, she competes well, and if the race is fast, she runs fast."

Bizzarri herself said that if she can stay with the pack, she's confident in her ability to finish strong — and that's what happened in Eugene. As the race began to separate, she slowly but surely moved past individual runners — eventually edging out the fourth and fifth place finishers around the final 400 meters.

"I always just try to stick with the group, because I knew if I was anywhere near the front (toward the end of the race) I'd definitely be right on top," Bizzarri said.

But while Bizzarri did finish towards the top, she fell short of hitting the 'B' standard (15:25.00) to qualify for this year's World Championships in Berlin, Germany.

To qualify, USA athletes must both finish in the top three in their event at the USA Championships and hit the standard.

Rasmussen said that although the pace started out where he wanted it, tactics started taking over towards the middle and it slowed down, and "as far as (Bizzarri) running really fast, kind of out the door."

Bizzarri must now decide whether or not she will run another race to try and hit the 'B' standard, therefore assuring a trip to Berlin.

"We've been talking about it. We think we're going to go out and try to find (another) meet and get her in the 5k," Rasmussen said.

According to Rasmussen, Bizzarri will have little time before her next race. If it happens it will most likely be within the next two weeks. And it may not be on her home soil.

"There's not a whole lot of meets left in the States so she might have to go overseas," Rasmussen said.

But after a collegiate season where Bizzarri won both a Big Ten and NCAA title in the 5k, Rasmussen stressed that she has nothing to prove. "If she's able to get (the standard) great, if not, she had a great season and she can hold her head high for sure," he said.