Feb. 19, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern University women's cross country runner Emily Blakeslee (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) qualified for the United States junior national team Saturday at Fort Vancouver Park, Wash. As a result, she will represent the U.S. at the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) World Cross Country Championships March 24-25 in Ostend, Belgium.
"I made one comment to Emily as she came over the final hill: `don't settle.' And she didn't," said head coach April Ecke. "This was well-deserved. It is wonderful for her and for our program to have someone representing the United States on the international level. It is another step in the development of the Northwestern cross country program, and further proof that we can produce quality distance runners without the benefit of a track program."
A freshman at NU, Blakeslee ran in the 6-kilometer junior division (under-20) and placed fifth with a time of 21:55.5. The top six runners in each race earned a spot on the U.S. team. Another Northwestern freshman, Nora Colligan (Rockford, Mich./Rockford), finished 10th in the junior race at 22:56.5 and will be an alternate for the U.S. team.
Laura Zeigle, a high school junior out of South Jordan, Utah, won the junior race in 21:18.4. The other four runners who qualified for the U.S. team include Alicia Craig, Alisha Williams and Michel de la Vina and Stanford's Victoria Chang.
Blakeslee scored for the Wildcats in every meet this season, and narrowly missed out on all-district honors with a 30th-place finish at the regional meet. Colligan scored for NU in five of the eight races in which she competed.
Northwestern junior Rachel Evjen ran in the 8-kilometer senior race on Saturday, clocking 29:29.40 to finish 34th overall. She was an all-district and second team All-Big Ten performer this fall for the Wildcats.