PEORIA, Ill. -- The men's and women's cross country teams will send small contingents to the Illini Open Friday afternoon in Champaign, Ill., in both squads' final competition before next week's Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
After setting numerous career and season-best times at last week's Bradley “Pink” Classic, the Braves will compete at the Illini Open for the fourth consecutive year in the team's final meet before the conference championship. The women's 5K race will kick things off at 4 p.m., followed by the men's 8K at 4:45 p.m. at the University of Illinois Arboretum.
Senior Daniel Allen (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) boasts the best 8K time among the men's team's seven entries in Friday's race after taking second in the college division/open race at the Bradley Classic last Friday. Allen clocked a season-best time of 25:53 and was less than three seconds off a career-best pace.
Freshman Mike Bianchina (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) is also coming off a season-best effort at the Bradley Classic, after he clocked a season-best time of 26:00 in the championship race, while sophomore Joe Fritzsche (Mt. Zion, Ill./Mt. Zion) also ran in the championship race and posted a career-best time of 26:01 last week.
On the women's side, freshman Lauren Cunningham (Bayside, Wis./Nicolet) is one of 12 Bradley entries and owns the top 5K time in the field for the Braves. She posted an 18:21.55 at the Illinois State Invitational last month and is coming off a 22:46 6K at the Bradley Classic.
Sophomore Caitlin Pribble (Morton, Ill./Morton) is also expected to help pace the Bradley women. She was 72nd in the championship race at the Bradley Classic with a 6K time of 22:23 and clocked a career-best 5K time of 18:31.10 at the Illinois State Invitational in Normal, Ill., earlier this year.
The Bradley men's and women's cross country teams will run at the MVC Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Nov. 2 and are also slated to compete at the Huskie Open in DeKalb, Ill., Nov. 8, before the NCAA Regional in Ames, Iowa, Nov. 15.
