Northwestern University Athletics
Emily Blakeslee Finishes 74th at World Cross Country Championships
3/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country & Track
March 26, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - Emily Blakeslee, a freshman at Northwestern University, placed 74th running for Team USA in the junior women's race at the International Amateur Athletic Federation's (IAAF) World Cross Country Championships Saturday morning. The World Championships were held in Ostend, Belgium.
Blakeslee, who scored for the Wildcats in every meet this past fall, clocked 25:01 over the 5.9-kilometer course to help Team USA to an 11th-place finish out of 21 teams. The team championship was won by Ethiopia (16 points), which edged Kenya (20) in a furious finish. Kenya's Viola Kibiwot was declared the individual winner over Ethiopians Abebech Negussie and Aster Bacha in a photo finish at the end.
"It was a lot of fun," said Blakeslee after the race. "Just being out there at an event like this was a great experience with all of these people from all over the world. It was like a big racing carnival. A couple of times I tried to make a move and then I'd hit a patch of mud and it would slow me down very quickly."
