PEORIA, Ill. -- Iowa State won its fifth consecutive Women's NCAA Midwest Regional title and Minnesota was second, while the Bradley women's cross country team posted the best finish in program history with a third place showing Friday afternoon at Newman Golf Course.
Courtney Frerichs of UMKC clocked the second fastest 6K time in Newman Golf Course history, winning the individual title with a time of 19:58.6. Frerichs time was nine seconds better than second-place finisher Erin Tueschuk of North Dakota State.
Fifth-ranked Iowa State had two of the top five and four of the top 14 individual finishers to claim their fifth consecutive NCAA Midwest Regional crown with 66 points. Minnesota, which was ranked 20th in the latest national poll, was second in the team standings with 125 points. Bradley posted its best finish in program history, taking third with 175 points to edge fourth-place Tulsa (180 points).
Missouri Valley Conference individual champion Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) capped off a very successful fall by earning All-Midwest Region honors with a 12th-place finish. Busch broke the 6K school record with an effort of 20:36.4 to top Sarah McMahon's year old school mark of 20:52.9 set at last year's NCAA Regional. In addition to the school record, Busch's 12th-place finish was the best by a Bradley individual at the NCAA Regional since Tam Hart was 12th in 2002.
Senior Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) joined Busch on the USTFCCCA All-Region team following a career-best time of 20:49.5 to finish 22nd overall and top her previous career-best time by nearly 36 seconds. Delvo's time ranks as the second fastest 6K in program history.
Junior Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) narrowly missed earning all-region honors for the second straight year. Kristen was two-tenths of a second out of the top 25 in 26th with a career-best effort of 20:54.6.
Fellow junior Rosie Hiles (Hampshire, England/Alton College/University of Birmingham) improved her career-best 6K time by over 30 seconds (21:13.8) and was 49th in the field. Sophomore Casey Kramer (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) rounded out the scoring for the Braves in 66th and clocked a 21:27.4 to shave 22 seconds off her career-best time.
Bradley had the top three individual finishers from the Missouri Valley Conference and the Braves are expected to return six of the seven individuals who ran in the 2014 NCAA Regional next fall.
Oklahoma State Men Take NCAA Regional; Braves Ninth
PEORIA, Ill. -- Oklahoma State defended its NCAA Midwest Regional title, edging in-state foe Tulsa for the crown while the Bradley men's cross country team turned in its best team finish since 1983 with a ninth-place showing Friday at Newman Golf Course.
Kirubel Erassa of Oklahoma State won a tightly contested individual title with a 10K time of 30:09.5 to outkick second-place finisher Marc Scott of Tulsa, who crossed the line at 30:10.3. Only two and one-half seconds separated the top four individuals in the field.
Behind Erassa's top individual finish, Oklahoma State boasted three of the top 11 finishers and five Cowboys earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors by posting top-25 finishes. Oklahoma State tallied 63 points to finish 14 points ahead of Tulsa (77 points) for top team honors. Iowa State was third overall at 110 points.
Bradley finished ninth in the final team standings with 283 points for the team's highest regional finish since taking ninth in 1983. Missouri Valley Conference rival Southern Illinois was just two points better than the Braves in eighth with 281 points, while Valley foes Loyola (10th - 291 points), Illinois State (11th - 315) and Drake (12th - 317 points) finished right behind Bradley in the final team standings.
Senior Chase Coffey (Hanna City, Ill./Farmington) turned in a strong effort in the final home meet of his career, breaking the 1983 school record 10K time of 31:01 held by Eric Huey with a time of 30:57.1. Coffey was 44th in the field to pace the Braves.
Fellow senior Eric Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) clocked the third fastest 10K in school history at 31:03.4 to finish 52nd. Freshman Taylor Floyd Mews (Milwaukee, Wis./Wauwatosa West) posted a time of 31:09.0 in his first collegiate 10K to finish 60th and become the first Bradley freshman to place in the top 60 of a NCAA Regional since Marty Bach in 1989.
MVC Freshman of the Year Michael Ward (Cardiff, South Wales/Llanishen) was on Floyd Mews heels in 61st at 31:09.1. Sophomore Patrick Campbell (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa) finished off the scoring for the Braves with a career-best time of 31:10.9 to finish 66th.
The Bradley men clocked six of the top seven 10K times in school history with junior Marshall Moyer (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington turning in a time of 31:11.5 to place 67th.
