ONE TO WATCH

Illini C-C Invitational

Friday at UI Blue Golf Course

Women 5:30 p.m.; Men 6 p.m.

It's your lone opportunity to catch the Illini cross-country teams at home this fall.

It's Illinois' first opportunity to run against schools outside its district (the folks at the NCAA call this cross-referencing; helps them figure out who deserves at-large bids for the national meet).

The field includes Cincinnati, Indiana State, DePaul, Illinois State, Bradley, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Purdue, Northern Iowa and Northern Illinois.

With an eye toward the postseason, UI coach Gary Wieneke has designated this a 10-kilometer race. That 2's Ks more than most regular-season meets, but it's the distance used in the NCAA district and national meets.

Meanwhile, UI women's coach Michelle Byrne will have all of her runners available for the first time this season (several had been out for health, injury or training reasons).

ILLINI OF THE WEEK

Ed Parga

What does Illini senior golfer Ed Parga have in common with the 1998 PGA Championship runner-up?

Parga now shares second place with Steve Stricker and three others on the all-time UI list for lowest 18-hole score.

Parga fired a 5-under-par 66 Sunday during the final round of the Northern Intercollegiate tournament at Minneapolis. The Scotia, N.Y., native's previous career best was a 68, which he shot twice as a junior.

Parga fell 2 shots shy of the UI 18-hole record, which Stricker shares with former Illini Trevor Beard.

BEARD'S BOYS

From 1988-90, Ed Beard's Illini either won or placed second in the Big Ten men's golf tournament. You know the reasons: guys like Stricker, fellow PGA Tour member Mike Small, All-Big Ten picks Trevor Beard and Kevin Fairfield.

But even that gifted group never put up numbers like Beard's current team has done so far this season. In each of their first two tournaments, the Illini have broken the record for lowest 18-hole score in school history (275 and then 273). Last weekend, at the Northern Intercollegiate, Illinois shattered the 54-hole school standard by 17 strokes with an 840.

It's early, but guys like Parga, D.A. Points and Mark Henderson could be headed toward the kind of season not seen since Sticker and Co. walked the UI Golf Course.

MEET THE ILLINI

NAME: Lindsay Speer

SPORT: Cross-country

YEAR: Junior

HOMETOWN: O'Fallon

HIGH SCHOOL: O'Fallon Township

MAJOR: Biology

COMMENT: Off to a strong start this fall, finishing first on her team and ninth overall last Saturday at the EIU Big Blue Meet. In the season-opening race Sept. 11 at Illinois State, Speer was the UI's second finisher and 12th overall.

As a junior, Speer placed in the top 10 in every regular-season meet she ran, including a runner-up finish in the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational. This year, she'll be looking to translate that success to the postseason after running fourth on her team in both the Big Ten and NCAA District V meets last fall.

In high school, Speer was an all-state cross-country performer all four years and an all-stater in track from 1994-96.

BOUNCING BACK

Certainly nobody's comparing the Illini women's tennis team to defending national champion Florida. But if Illinois' first tournament under Sujay Lama is any indication, the former Gator assistant has the revitalized Illini at least pointed in that direction.

Competing in the Eck Classic at Notre Dame last weekend, Illinois had a number of noteable successes: Allison Gottlieb and Carla Rosenberg finished second in the Flight B doubles; Simone Kung and Stacy Schapiro reached the Flight A singles quarterfinals before losing to the eventual finalists; Brooke Ferney and Megan Wise each advanced to the Flight B singles semifinals.

Oh, and every Illini returned with a winning record.

"We wanted to see how they would react," said Lama. "What we saw was fantastic. We saw a lot of fight, a lot of heart."

Lama was especially impressed with Gottlieb, who also placed second in the Flight B consolation singles.

"She was giving 110 percent effort in every match," he said of the senior, "hanging in there with players physically stronger than her, players who were hitting the ball harder than her.

"I told her, 'I've had an opportunity to coach a lot of players, and the satisfaction I got coaching you was as good, if not better,' because of the improvement she made."

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