AMES, Iowa -- Junior Eric Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) posted the best individual finish for the Braves at an NCAA Regional since 1996 and helped the Bradley men's cross country team to a 13th-place showing for the team's best performance since 1996 Friday at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Delvo beat his previous career-best effort by nearly 80 seconds and was 37th overall at 31:16.9. His 10K time ranks second behind Eric Huey's school record of 31:01 set in 1983 and his 37th-place finish was the best by a Bradley individual since Andy Snyder was 32nd at the NCAA Regional in 1996. Delvo was 12 seconds out of the top 25 Friday.
MVC Freshman of the Year Patrick Campbell (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa) turned in another strong performance and clocked the fourth-best 10K in school history. He crossed the line in 61st at 31:39.7.
Junior Chase Coffey (Hanna City, Ill./Farmington) was 78th with a career-best time of 32:05.8 to post the 10th-best 10K in program history, while sophomore Cole Dill (Tremont, Ill./Tremont) shaved nearly a full minute off his career-best 10K and was 86th overall at 32:11.4. Freshman Daniel Gagne (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) closed out the scoring for Bradley in 104th at 32:30.6.
"Eric (Delvo) and Patrick (Campbell) ran exceptional races today to lead the team," said Bradley head coach Marc Burns. "We were ranked 13th coming into the meet so to finish 13th was solid. We made some huge improvements this fall and have all seven of these guys coming back next year. The future is bright for our program and these men. The Braves are on the move."
The Braves finished ahead of five other Missouri Valley Conference rivals and the team's 13th-place finish was the team's best at an NCAA Regional since taking 13th at the 1996 event. The Braves finished with 361 points and were just 12 points behind 2013 Missouri Valley Conference champion Southern Illinois, which was 11th overall at 349.
Oklahoma State won the team title with 45 points, to edge out in-state foe and second-place finisher Tulsa (57 points). Host Iowa State was third in the team standings at 113.
McMahon & Kristen Busch Pace Braves To Seventh At NCAA Regional
AMES, Iowa -- Junior Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) broke her own school record in the women's 6K and sophomore Kristen Busch(Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) joined her on the all-region team as the duo helped the Bradley women's cross country team to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional Friday afternoon.
McMahon topped her own school record by one second, finishing 15th overall at 20:52.9 to garner all-region honors for the second consecutive year. Her time was 12 seconds out of the top 10 and less than 19 seconds from earning an automatic spot in next week's NCAA Championship. McMahon's 15th-place finish was the best by a Bradley runner at an NCAA Regional since Tam Hart (12th) and Teresa Caplinger (15th) helped pace the Braves to a fourth-place showing in 2002.
Busch also topped her previous career-best and joined McMahon as the only individuals in program history to break 21 minutes in a 6K. Her time of 20:55.7 was four seconds better than her previous career-best and helped her earn a spot on the all-region team with her 17th-place finish.
The duo helped Bradley finish seventh in the field with 265 points as the Braves were just four points back of sixth-place Missouri (261) and 47 points out of the top five. Host Iowa State had five of the top 13 individuals and claimed the regional title with 39 points. Minnesota was second at 59 points, while Oklahoma State rounded out the top three at 192 points.
"Our women have been ranked in the top seven in the region since September," said Bradley head coach Marc Burns. "It is great to see them finish the year in seventh and it shows that we are close to being a team that can contend for an NCAA berth in the near future. Mac (McMahon) and Kristen (Busch) ran really well today. We are so excited to have two Braves earn all-region honors. Everyone that ran in the post season for us this year will be back next year. We will be really tough next year. This is a team that beat SMU at Notre Dame earlier in the year and they just automatically qualified for the NCAA meet by finishing second in the South Central Region this afternoon. It will be fun to see how this team progresses in the next year."
Junior Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) crossed the line in 75th with a time 21:51.5 and sophomore Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) narrowly missed posting a career-best time at 21:54.8 to finish 81st. Sophomore Lauren Houmes (Hoopeston, Ill./Hoopeston) closed out the scoring for the Braves in 83rd with a career-best 6K effort of 21:55.9.
Bradley finished five points ahead of Illinois (8th - 270) and the Braves were 10 points better than ninth-place Northwestern (275 points).
