With about 600 meters left before the final turn of Saturday’s Illinois Invitational, Rachel Evjen felt the sound of footsteps creeping up close behind her.
“It was down to the wire,” said Evjen, a Northwestern junior, who beat Stacia Beste of Illinois State by a second to take the 5K race. “She was coming down the home stretch and she was a step ahead of me. I didn’t think she was that close.”
The clear and sunny skies in Champaign turned the race into a lightning-quick sprint to the finish. With the first group of runners moving together like a herd of freshmen in search of a dining hall, Evjen said the margin for error was small, as fast times from all 15 teams provided a more competitive race than was originally anticipated.
“In the beginning, I was standing near the two-and-a-half kilometer (mark) and Loyola was up there,” said Wildcats coach Amy Tush. “At the 3K mark, I thought Loyola had beat us … they are a very strong team.”
For all of Tush’s concern, Loyola finished a spot behind the Cats in fourth place. Evjen’s first-place finish out of 144 runners led the Cats to third place overall, tops among the four Big Ten teams. Illinois placed fifth with 101 points, Indiana was sixth with 119 points and Iowa rounded out the top 10 with 277 points.
Wichita State won the team title with 66 points and Butler came in second with 76 — one point ahead of the Cats.
“It was a great win,” said Tush, who was an assistant at Butler before coming to NU. “You like to always beat your maker. I know that team like the back of my hand. Nothing against Wichita State, they had a great team too.”
Tush sent in a full squad of 12 runners to compete in the race.
Despite beating their Big Ten rivals, Tush said the Cats cannot revel too much in the race results.
“It’s always nice to beat your conference schools,” Tush said. “But when the Big Ten Championships come around, these teams may be totally different. We have to be prepared for anything.”
Notably missing in Saturday’s race were two of the Cats’ top racers from last season’s team. Sidelined by preseason injuries, senior Laura Evans and sophomore Emily Blakeslee consistently scored on a team that nearly advanced to the NCAA Championships last year.
“(Blakeslee) has been back and practicing with us,” Tush said. “At this point, it’s an iffy situation. Laura Evans, one of our top five runners, is basically (training). She may or may not be coming back.”
Placing seventh overall in Saturday’s race and second on the team, freshman Diana Hosfeld said the flat, straight and open course helped the Cats get a feel for their competition. The terrain also prepared the team for their return to Champaign in October for the Big Ten Championships.
“It was a clear day and the sun was out,” Hosfeld said. “We had hoped to win the Invitational. We were pleased but are still looking to beat the teams next Saturday.”
NU will be heading to Minnesota on Saturday for the Roy Griak Invitational, where at least 10 of the top 25 teams in the nation will be competing.
“If we are in the top 12 to 15, we are doing very well,” Tush said.
The Griak Invitational will be the first time the Cats run a 6K race this season.
“Last year when we ran this, we were like, ‘Oh, no,'” Evjen said. “But when you’re in a race, the last 1000 meters is pretty much adrenaline. You don’t know the difference until you pass the 5K mark — you start thinking, ‘I would be finished already.'”
Tush said the 6K should not be a problem for her runners since the difference of one kilometer is not enough to affect the quality of their training.
“I think they are prepared for anything, regardless of a 5K or 6K,” Tush said.
“It’s in the nature of the runners. We’ll have a good outing.”
