PEORIA, Ill. ? Junior Chris George (Normal, Ill./University H.S.) paced the Bradley men with a fifth-place individual finish, while frehman Rachel Brubaker (Davis, Ill./Durand H.S.) led the Bradley women during the Bradley Classic Friday evening at Newman Golf Course.

Both the Bradley men and women ran to ninth-place team finishes Friday during their respective 13-team races.  In a somewhat ironic twist, Southern Illinois won the women's team championship, while Drake's Ashley Anklam clocked 21:42 to claim the individual title on the 6K course.  Conversely, Drake won the men's team title, while Southern Illinois' Jeff Schirmer claimed the individual crown with a time of 25:12 on the 8K track.

The Bradley women were without the services of senior Sarah Westrick, who had the team's top 6K time this season entering Friday's race.  Brubaker bettered that mark with her run of 23:23 at Newman Golf Course, lowering her season-best time by nearly 45 seconds.  Brubaker was not alone in her improvement.  Katie Nowak (23:41) dropped shaved a minute off her season-best, while Tracy Lotter (23:58) lopped nearly 1:11 off her season-best.  In addition, Ainslie Schultz (24:00) took a minute off her season-best, while Melanie Glander experienced the biggest improvement by dropping her 6K time of 26:01.65 Sept. 23 at the Roy Griak Invitational to 24:28 at Friday's home race.  Shelby Lisle joined the club by lowering her mark 20 seconds to 24:43.

Carli Murphy (25:24), Amanda Switzer (25:50) and Amanda Schnaiter (30:37) all ran their first 6K races of the year.

On a cold and blustery day in Peoria, George completed the men's race in 25:40 to finish in the middle of a three-some who crossed the finish line within two seconds of one another.  Nick Palumbo and Nathan Ahart crossed the finish line together at 26:45, followed by Patrick Greene at 27:37, Drew Cisel at 28:02 and Matt O'Shea in 29:39.

Friday's home meet was the final tuneup for both the Bradley men's and women's teams before the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship Oct. 28 in Lincoln, Neb.