BU Men Claim Ideal Rentals Bradley Pink Classic Title

Cross Country 10/12/2018 6:37:00 PM

The Bradley men's cross country team claimed four of the top 12 spots to win its home meet for the first time since 2013, placing first of 33 schools at the Ideal Rentals Bradley Pink Classic.

On the same course that will host the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in two weeks, the BU women also finished eighth of 39 schools overall and first of seven Valley teams in Friday's cold and wet conditions.

Junior Jake Hoffert led the Bradley men with a fifth-place finish on the day, just missing his PR time with a mark of 24:39.1. He was joined in the top 12 by three other Braves – senior Michael Ward in seventh (24:41.7), senior Haran Dunderdale in 11th (24:47.2) and junior Luke Hoffert in 12th (24:49.4).

It marks the first time this season all four of those Braves finished in the same meet this season – Jake Hoffert did not complete his run at the Bradley Intercollegiate, while Ward and Luke Hoffert did not finish at Wisconsin.

"Men were so much better today," said Bradley head coach Darren Gauson. "I'm really happy for Luke and Michael (coming back from injury). Across the board, I thought we were excellent. We relaxed a little bit more and did what we can do. We competed in tough conditions and that's what we're all about."

In a meet that featured 13 regionally-ranked schools, Bradley won the race with 63 points to finish ahead of Grand Valley State (83), Illinois (166), Saint Louis (227) and Indiana (236). In addition to its first win at the Bradley Pink Classic in five years, the Braves' 63 total points are the fewest by a champion since Southern Illinois won with 43 points in 2012.

Junior Gabby Juarez led the Braves during the women's 6K race with a time of 21:25.0 to place 26th overall. The junior topped her previous PR by more than 10 seconds to lead BU in their final full-team performance before the conference championship.

Freshman Tyler Schwartz followed closely behind and placed 39th in 21:39.7, while Abby Jockisch (21:58.1), Ayah Aldadah (22:03.4) and Niamh Markham (22:14.6) rounded out the team's top five.

"I thought the women were really good," Gauson said. "Gabby had a great run and we saw more improvement from her. Tyler got in the mix and in that lead-group early to have a good performance. We just need to click all five, six and seven at the MVC Championship and NCAA Regional. I'm really happy with our progress. We are still pretty young and we're getting better every week. Top team in the Valley is really good for us so if we can just use that momentum going forward, we are going to be in good shape."

Iowa State claimed the team title with 54 points with South Dakota, Illinois, Grand Valley State and Toledo rounding out the top five.

The Braves will send a small contingent of runners to the Illini Open next Friday before the MVC Championship in two weeks. The conference title is back on the line on Saturday, Oct. 27 at Peoria's Newman Golf Course.

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