PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley men's and women's cross country teams had three weeks off from competition, but have a busy week on the slate with both squads competing at the 58th annual Notre Dame Invitational Friday afternoon in South Bend, Ind., and SIU Edwardsville Invitational Saturday morning in Edwardsville, Ill.
After strong efforts last time out at the Illinois State Invitational back on Sept. 13, both teams have moved into the regional rankings with the women's team currently ranked sixth in the Midwest and the men's team in 15th in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association regional polls.
The men's team will kick off Friday's action at the Notre Dame Invitational with eight individuals competing in the 5-mile men's gold race at 1:45 p.m. (CDT). Junior Eric Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) turned in the top 8K time for the Braves since 1996 at the Illinois State Invitational and has been near the front of the Bradley pack each of the first two outings this year. Senior Nathan Davis (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown) and sophomore Marshall Moyer (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington) have also looked strong early on for the Braves.
Three men and seven women will run in the open race at the Notre Dame Invitational at 2:30 p.m. (CDT) and the Bradley women's squad will wrap up the day in the 5K women's blue race at 3:15 p.m. (CDT), which features seven teams currently ranked in the top 30 of the USTFCCCA National poll.
Sophomore twins Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) and Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) have led the Braves in the first two meets this season, while all-conference runner Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) has also helped pace Bradley this fall. The women's team clocked five of the top-10 5K times in school history at the Illinois State Invitational last month, led by Kristen Busch's career-best effort of 17:21.05.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our women to compete against some of the top teams in the country,” stated Bradley head coach Marc Burns. “There are also multiple teams ranked in the top five in their respective regions. It has been a long three-week training period and both teams are chomping at the bit to compete. We feel a top-15 team finish for the women (Blue seeded race) and a top-5 finish for the men (Gold non seeded race) would be outstanding performances for both squads. The men should be able to race toward the front of the Gold race. We need a couple of our guys to step up and give us more depth in the top five in order to be able to make a push into the top five teams.”
Saturday's action at the SIU Edwardsville John Flamer Invitational is scheduled to begin with the men's 8K at 10 a.m. The men's team will send five individuals to Edwardsville, Ill., with junior Evan Tuisl (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) owning the top 8K time this season among the Bradley entries.
The Bradley women's team will have seven competitors in the 10:45 a.m. 6K race Saturday. Senior Whitney Schumacher (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly) has the top 5K time this fall among the Braves in the field, with seniors Sarah Higgins (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) and Emily Wolbers (Moline, Ill./Moline) seeing their first action of the 2013 season.
“The SIUE meet will be a good developmental meet for the individuals not racing at Notre Dame,” added Burns “SIUE has a true cross country course and it will give them a chance to race up toward the front of the race.”
After the busy weekend, both teams will have next weekend off before hosting the Bradley Pink Classic at Newman Golf Course, Friday, Oct. 18 (3 p.m.).
