NORMAL, Ill. -- Freshmen Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) and Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) turned in two of the top-10 5K times in school history to help the women's cross country team to a second place finish, while freshman Marshall Moyer (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington) clocked the fastest men's 8K time at Bradley since 2005 to highlight competition at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships Friday.
Underclassmen paced the women's team to a second-place finish, accounting for each of Bradley's top eight finishers. Five of BU's top six were freshman, led by McMahon's time of 17:57 which ranks as the fifth-best 5K time in school history. McMahon finished seventh among NCAA Division I individuals, with Delvo following in eighth at 18:01. Delvo's time is tied for the seventh fastest 5K time in school history.
"On the women's side, finishing second overall was fantastic," head coach Marc Burns said. "I was really excited by the tone our front four set for the team. We are going to battle teams with those front four and can be dangerous if we can close that gap between four and five. That was a huge step from where we were last year at this time."
A week after winning his first collegiate race, Moyer clocked the fastest men's 8K time in nearly six years. He finished 10th among NCAA Division I individuals with a time of 25:06 to mark the fastest 8K performance by a Brave since Chris George ran a 25:02 at the 2005 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship.
"I have mixed emotions on the men's side," Burns stated. "On paper we ran heads and tails better than we did last year, even if it doesn't show in the team results. We are a much better team than we were last year. The guys just need to keep improving and be patient. I can guarantee we will be much better at the Valley meet than we were a year ago."
Sophomore Cassie Lohmeier (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) was one of two women's runners to turn in career-best efforts, finishing 11th at 18:10 and freshman Molly Dahlquist (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame) was eight seconds behind at 18:18 to finish 13th among Division I competitors. Freshman Hannah Booker (Tremont, Ill./Tremont) rounded out the team scoring for the Braves, finishing 34th at 19:17.
Following Moyer on the men's side was a trio of Braves at 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Junior Jon Richards (Streator, Ill./Streator) and sophomore Nathan Davis (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown) finished 22nd and 23rd, respectively, with career-best times of 25:39, while junior Nick Skromme (Ottawa, Ill./Marquette) was 24th with a career-best effort of 25:42. Rounding out the team scoring for the men's team in 36th at 26:13 was sophomore Thomas Harayda (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods), who missed a career-best 8K time by nine seconds.
The Bradley men's and women's cross country teams will be back in action Sept. 30 at the Notre Dame Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind.
