CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Freshmen Katie Wampole (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy) and Lauren Cunningham (Bayside, Wis./Nicolet) paced the Bradley women's cross country team Friday afternoon at the Illini Open, while freshman Mike Bianchina (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) was the top finisher for the Bradley men's cross country team at the University of Illinois Arboretum.

Wampole finished eighth with a time of 18:41 in the women's 5K to open the day's competition for the Braves.  She was 10 seconds out of the top-10 and missed a season-best 5K time by less than three seconds.  Cunningham was close behind in 10th at 18:48, crossing the line seven seconds behind Wampole.

Junior Kyela Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) was one of several women's runners to clock season-best 5K's Friday.  She was 18th overall at 19:01 to top her season-best effort by almost six seconds and was the only non-freshman in BU's top five.  Freshman Nicole Lopez-Villegas (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) topped her season-best time by 13 seconds with a time of 19:09 to finish 25th and fellow freshman Mackenzie Griffin (Petersburg, Ill./PORTA) rounded out Bradley's top five in 27th.  Griffin's time of 19:10 was 30 seconds better than her previous season-best 5K time.

Bianchina led a pack of Bradley men's runners and crossed the line in 10th at 26:08 after running a season-best 8K time of 26:00 last Friday at the Bradley Classic.  Sophomore Joe Fritzsche (Mt. Zion, Ill./Mt. Zion) was on Bianchina's heels in 11th at 26:13 and junior Evan Tuisl (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) was one second behind Fritzsche in 12th.  Tuisl's time of 26:14 was a career-best.

Freshman Steffen Uhrich (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) posted a season-best 8K time of 26:30 and was 17th in the field.  Sophomore Michael Kouri (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame) completed the top five for the Bradley men's team in 24th at 27:05. 

The Bradley men's and women's cross country teams will be back in action Saturday, Nov. 2 at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.