Braves Set for MVC Cross Country Championship Saturday

Men's Cross Country 10/27/2017 12:30:00 PM

The Bradley cross country teams look to continue their reign atop the Missouri Valley Conference when it competes at the conference championship on Saturday in Springfield, Missouri. The men are aiming for a third-straight title, while the women look for their third in four years.

MEET INFO
The men begin the MVC Championship, with the 8K race slated for 10:35 a.m., while the women's 5K is set to begin at 11:35 a.m.

For the first time, the meet will be streamed live on ESPN3 with live results also available.

2016 MVC CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
The Bradley men's team cruised to the 2016 MVC Championship in dominating fashion, winning the program's second-straight title. The team's 24 total points easily finished of second-place Wichita State (82) and were the lowest point total at the meet in 34 years. Five Braves finished in the top eight overall to earn all-conference honors, led by Michael Ward and Jake Hoffert. Ward placed second at the meet, while MVC Freshman of the Year, Hoffert was third. The duo posted the best finishes by a Brave since 1965, while Patrick Campbell (5th), Taylor Floyd Mews (6th) and Caleb Beck (8th) also posted top-10 marks.

The Bradley women's team finished as runner-ups at the 2016 MVC Championship despite replacing nearly every runner from the previous year. The second-place finish marked the team's fourth-straight top-two performance after winning the meet in 2014 and 2015 and placing second in 2013. Hannah Witczak earned All-MVC honors at her first MVC Championship and placed fifth overall. Freshman Erin Gallagher and sophomore Sara Piller also received honorable mention to the all-conference team after an 11th- and 14th-place finish as six Braves overall posted top-20 times.

BRAVES PICKED TO SWEEP CHAMPIONSHIP
Bradley is the championship favorite, as voted on by the league's head coaches. In the annual pre-championship poll, Bradley was slated first for both the men and the women. The men earned 7-of-9 first place and 79 total points in the poll, finishing ahead of second-place Indiana State (60). The women collected 7-of-10 first-place votes and with 96 total points, the Braves edged defending champion Northern Iowa in the rankings (91).

ONE-TWO PUNCH
In 1965, Rod Collins became the only BU man to win the Missouri Valley Conference Championship but the Braves have two strong competitors to end that drought in 2017. Hoffert and Floyd Mews have finished as the team's top two runners in every meet this season and at the Bradley Pink Classic two weeks ago that featured six of the nine MVC schools, the duo also finished as the top two in the MVC – Floyd Mews edged Hoffert by just one-tenth of a second. Overall, Hoffert is the top-finishing male returning from last year's championship, while Floyd Mews ranks third of every returning runner.

GREAT DEPTH
While the men feature a great one-two punch, the strength on the women's team is its numbers. Bradley has had five different leaders in its six meets this season, including a different runner in each of its three major meets (Natalie Burant, Sara Piller and McKenzie Altmayer). Last season, Hannah Witczak led the Braves in every meet she raced as the team finished second at the conference meet but the depth is more apparent this year as Witczak has finished second of her three races this year (and was sick at Bradley Pink Classic).

UP NEXT
After the Braves compete for the conference title, the regional crown is next on the agenda in two weeks. Both teams are slated for the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday, Nov. 10 in Ames, Iowa.

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