SAVOY, Ill. – For the third consecutive season, Bradley Cross Country sweeps the men's and women's team titles in a season-opening meet.
The Braves placed first in the women's 4K and men's 6K events at the Fighting Illini Open, outrunning athletes from the hosting University of Illinois and multiple Missouri Valley Conference foes.
The women's 4K race saw senior
Kaitlyn Sheppard pace the field and take first place with a time of 13:08.0, finishing roughly ten seconds ahead of second place.
Nadia Potgieter (13:31.3) and
Abigail Hancock (13:35.1), placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
Skyler Balzer finished eighth at 13:45.00, while
Rhune Vanroose rounded out the top 10 at 13:50.3. Seven Braves finished in the top 12 and all nine athletes finished within the top 20. The team scored 28 points, 33 points higher than second-place Indiana State.
The men's 6K race saw similar results, with junior
JD Rosslee finishing first at 17:23.5, 10 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher,
Caleb Lind (17:33.1).
Travis Gaffney finished fourth (17:40.5), while freshman
Jacob Trangmar placed sixth in his collegiate debut (17:42.8).
Parker Nold rounded out the point-scoring positions with a ninth-place finish (18:02.2), and
Jaxson Copelin (10th, 18:03.30) and
Brandon Kamp (11th, 18:05.90). The team scored 22 points, 39 points ahead of second-place Illinois, and eight Braves finished within the top 19.
COMING UP...
The Braves return to the course on Friday, September 19th, for the 38th annual Bradley Intercollegiate, held at Detweiller Park on the north side of Peoria.
BRADLEY RESULTS
