Bradley University Athletics

Cross Country Finishes 24th in NCAA Championship Debut

Results

Cross Country 11/17/2018 7:24:00 PM

Madison, Wis. – The Bradley men's cross country team made its debut on the national stage as the 25th-ranked team in the latest USTFCCCA poll finished higher than its rank with a 24th-place performances on Saturday at the NCAA Championship.

The Braves scored 580 points, finishing just three points behind Villanova but placing ahead of a number of perennial powers, including No. 11 Syracuse, No. 17 Arkansas, No. 22 Purdue, No. 26 Iona, No. 28 Tulsa, Florida State and Texas.

Braves run as part of the nation's elite and finish the season with a program-best 2⃣4⃣ showing at the national meet pic.twitter.com/WncpHr5T0t
— BradleyXC-Track (@BradleyXCTrack) November 18, 2018

"We came in 25th and finished 24th," said Bradley head coach Darren Gauson. "That's all we talked about all week – finishing better than we were ranked. We proved that we belong here. We proved that we are a national-level team. We absolutely did that today. We beat some perennial powers in Syracuse and Arkansas. We belonged here and now we have to consistency be at this meet. It can't just be one time and come back in 10 years. We need to be here every single year. I think 24th is a bench mark and let's go build on that."

In their final collegiate cross country race, seniors Michael Ward and Haran Dunderale led the Braves at the NCAA Championship. Ward placed 106th overall with a 10K time of 30:40.3, while Dunderdale followed closely behind in 115th with a mark of 30:47.4

Junior Jake Hoffert ran the course in 31:06.0, while junior Will Anderson (31:07.7), junior Luke Hoffert (31:25.5), freshman Jack Franklin (32:34.6) and sophomore Alec Danner (33:19.8) completed the lineup for Bradley.

Northern Arizona claimed its third-straight national championship with 83 points, beating second-place BYU by 33. Morgan McDonald of Wisconsin took home the individual title on his home course, crossing the finish line in 29:08.3

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