Peoria, Ill. -- Two home meets highlight the beginning of a new era for Bradley Cross Country as the schedule was released on Friday.

During the offseason, Bradley tabbed Andrew Carlson, former Louisville assistant coach, as the successor to Darren Gauson as the head coach of the Bradley Cross Country and Track & Field teams. Gauson had accepted a similar role at the University of New Mexico.

The Braves' first meet under new head coach Andrew Carlson comes on September 1st as the distance runners travel to Macomb, IL for the Western Illinois Alumni Cross Country Invitational.

On September 15th, Bradley hosts the first of two home meets this season with the 36th Bradley Intercollegiate, held at the historic Detweiller Park at the north end of Peoria. Last season, Alec Danner ran the fastest time in Men's 8K history, running the distance in 23:49.2 while taking the victory. The victory marked the eighth consecutive season that a Bradley runner won the Men's 8K race, a streak that began with Chase Coffey's victory in the 2014 event. Danner narrowly beat out his teammate George Watson, who finished second with a 23:49.7, just five-tenths of a second off the winner. Six Bradley runners finished in the top ten: Danner (1st), Watson (2nd), Matt Aho (5th), Roy Alvarez Gonzalez (6th), Caleb Lind (8th) and Caden Simone (10th), with Lind and Simone registered as unattached athletes. In the Women's 3-Mile race, Bradley's highest-finishing athlete was Peyton Schieppe, who finished third with a 16:49.4. Bradley had three athletes finish in the top five: Schieppe (3rd), Trixie Wraith (4th) and Anna Perry (5th), with Wraith registering as an unattached athlete.

The Braves will then head to Columbia, MO on September 29th for the Gans Creek Classic hosted by the University of Missouri.

Bradley closes the regular season with three meets in three weeks, beginning with the Bradley Pink Classic on October 13th. The team's second home meet of the season will be held at Newman Golf Course, situated near Laura Bradley Park and Shea Stadium. Last season, Bradley runner Nicola Jansen finished second in the Women's 6K Red Race with a time of 19:57.4. Jansen was one of two runners to complete the distance in under 20 minutes. Tyler Schwartz finished 15th and Peyton Schieppe finished 24th as Bradley took third place in the overall team score. In the White Race, Bradley finished sixth as a team, headlined by Lily Strauss' 15th-place run. In the Men's 8K Red Race, the Braves placed fifth in the team standings, with Alec Danner, George Watson and Charlie Parrish finishing 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. In the White Race, Bradley finished second on the team leaderboard, courtesy of Noah Costa's fifth-place effort and Mickey Vreeland's 12th-place finish. 

The next week, the runners head to Butler University to run in the Butler Open, scheduled for October 20th.

The Braves' three-meet-in-three-week stretch concludes with the MVC Championships, held on October 27th at Belmont. The team swept the Men's and Women's MVC Team Championships, with George Watson (2nd), Alec Danner (3rd), Matt Aho (7th) and Charlie Parrish (11th) leading the Men's title-winning effort. Nicola Jansen took the individual crown on the Women's side, clearing second place by roughly 30 seconds. Her title is the first since the second of Caitlin Busch's back-to-back individual championships in 2015. As a team, Bradley scored 22 points, the lowest a Bradley Women's team has ever scored in the MVC Championship. The team's score is the second-best in Women's Cross Country MVC Championship history, only behind Loyola-Chicago scoring 17 points in the 2019 Championship. Jansen (1st), Tyler Schwartz (3rd), Peyton Schieppe (4th), Wilma Nielsen (5th) and Sophie McDonnell (9th) led the title-winning endeavor. 

After six regular season meets, the Braves will participate in the Midwest Regional on November 10th, held by Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, competing for the ability to advance to the NCAA Championships in Charlottesville, VA, hosted by the University of Virginia, on November 18th.