PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley men's and women's cross country teams have a busy weekend scheduled, with the Braves hosting the 12th annual Bradley Classic Friday afternoon at Newman Golf Course in addition to sending a group to Louisville, Ky., for Saturday's Pre-Nationals.
A total of 45 teams and nearly 1,000 runners will converge on Newman Golf Course for the 12th annual Bradley Classic, which will begin Friday at 3 p.m. The Men's 8K White Race, which will feature approximately 175 competitors, will start at 3 p.m. to open the day's activities. The Women's 6K White Race follows at 3:40 p.m. and will feature almost 200 runners.
Twenty-seven NCAA Division I teams and just short of 300 individuals will run in the Men's 8K Red Race at 4:25 p.m., with teams from the Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Horizon League, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, SEC, Summit League and Western Athletic scheduled to compete. The women's 6K Red Race caps the day's activities at 5:05 p.m., with a total of 30 teams and approximately 300 individuals slated to compete.
For live results from the Bradley Classic visit - https://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-17262
Free parking is available at the Newman Golf Course Clubhouse located at the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Park Road. Overflow parking is available at Laura Bradley Park located just south of the Newman Golf Course Clubhouse (South of Nebraska).
In addition to hosting 11 previous Bradley Classic's, Newman Golf Course has served as the site for the NCAA Midwest Regional six times and also been the site of four Missouri Valley Conference Championships. Illinois State won the men's title at last year's event, while Illinois claimed the women's title at the 2014 Bradley Classic.
Bradley will also have a contingent heading to Louisville, Ky., for Pre-Nationals Saturday morning. Many of the top teams in the country will meet at E.P. 'Tom' Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., which will serve as site for the 2015 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships later this year.
The Bradley men are one of 40 squads competing in Saturday's 8:30 a.m. (CDT) 8K seeded race. The day's first event features 11 nationally ranked teams and another four teams receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA National Poll. The Braves finished 20th out of 46 teams at last year's Pre-Nationals. Sophomore Michael Ward (Cardiff, South Wales/Llanishen) is expected to help pace the Bradley men after he finished 26th at the Notre Dame Invitational earlier this month.
The women's 6K seeded race will follow at 9:15 a.m. (CDT). The 43 team field includes eight nationally ranked squads, with five of the teams ranked in the top 10, in addition to five other teams receiving votes in this week's national poll. Last year, seniors Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) and Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) took 55th and 60th, respectively, at Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., to help lead the Bradley women to a 14th-place showing.
Caitlin broke her own school record in the 5K two weeks ago at Notre Dame and owns the third-best time in the MVC this fall, while Kristen's time from Notre Dame is second in school history and fourth in the Valley this year.
The Bradley men's and women's cross country teams are scheduled to compete at next week's Illini Open (Oct. 23) in Champaign, Ill., before heading to Evansville, Ind., for the Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 31.
