LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Senior Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) broke her twin sister's school record in the women's 6K to finish 27th in the field at Saturday's Pre-Nationals, while the Bradley women's cross country team placed 23rd overall in the 45-team field.
Busch posted the top 6K time in the Missouri Valley Conference this season and was the top individual finisher among Valley competitors in the field as she clocked a school-record time of 20:32.7. She broke her twin sister Caitlin's school mark of 20:36.4 set at last year's NCAA Midwest Regional to finish 27th overall Saturday and improved her own personal-best time by over 20 seconds.
Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) crossed the line at 20:59.0 to finish 74th overall, while fellow senior Rosie Hiles (Hampshire, England/Alton College/University of Birmingham) followed in 140th at 21:22.4. Hiles was less than nine seconds off her career-best pace set at last year's NCAA Regional.
Freshman Gabby Juarez (Streamwood, Ill./Streamwood) was strong in the first collegiate 6K of her career, turning in a time of 21:37.7 to finish 177th as she missed a top-10 time in school history by five seconds.
Senior Rachel Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk) had a personal-best 6K time of 21:44.8 to finish 203rd as she completed the team scoring for the Braves and took 17 seconds off her career-best. Fellow senior Kylie McKinney (Petersburg, Ill./PORTA) shaved 36 seconds off her own career-best 6K time to finish 276th in the field at 22:23.1.
“It was a very strong weekend for both groups," said Bradley cross country/track & field head coach Darren Gauson. “The men's team asserted themselves as the top team in the conference and the women got another very solid performance to continue to build up to the upcoming Valley Championship and NCAA regional.”
Fifth-ranked Michigan won the team title with 131 points to edge out second-ranked Colorado, which was second at 151. The 45-team field included eight nationally ranked teams, including five of the top 10, along with five other teams receiving votes in the latest national poll.
Bradley was 21 points out of the top 20, finishing 23rd overall at 602 behind Eastern Kentucky (20th - 571), New Hampshire (21st - 597) and Cornell (22nd - 602), which is ranked 29th in the last USTFCCCA national rankings. The Braves were 28 points ahead of Eastern Michigan (24th – 630). Wichita State was the only Missouri Valley Conference squad in the field with the Shockers placing 36th overall at 816.
Bradley returns to action next Friday at the Illinois Open in Champaign, Ill.
