PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley men's and women's cross country teams close out a busy October Friday with both squads heading to Champaign, Ill., for the Illinois Open.

The Braves will send small contingents with 16 women slated to run in the 5K scheduled for 4 p.m. at the University of Illinois Arboretum and nine men entered in the 8K which will follow at 4:45 p.m.

Friday's Illinois Open will be the first 5K this fall for the Bradley women.  Sophomore Katie Wampole (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy) was the top finisher for the Braves at last year's Illinois Open, taking eighth, and was one of two BU runners in the top 10 last fall In Champaign, Ill.  Wampole has one of the top 6K times this season among the Bradley entries.

Junior Kylie McKinney (Petersburg, Ill./PORTA) is coming off a career-best 6K effort at last week's Bradley Classic, where she paced the Braves with a time of 22:59.4.  She was one of four Bradley women to post season or career-best 6K times in the Bradley Classic Red Race and owns the top 6K time among the Braves scheduled to run Friday. 

On the men's side, sophomore Mike Bianchina (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) owns the top 8K time among the nine Braves entered in the Illinois Open.  Bianchina, who turned in a career-best 25:26.2 at the Bradley Intercollegiate earlier this fall, placed 10th last year at the Illinois Open to lead the Braves.

Freshman Taylor Floyd Mews (Milwaukee, Wis./Wauwatosa West) is also expected to be near the front of the pack for BU after running his first collegiate 8K at the Bradley Classic last week, where he was the top finisher for the Braves in 50th overall. 

The Illinois Open is the fourth outing in the month of October for Bradley.  The Braves will run at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in Carbondale, Ill., Saturday, Nov. 1.