PEORIA, Ill.—The Illinois State men's and women's cross country teams are set to compete at the Bradley Classic at the Newman Golf Course Friday, Oct. 17, after two weekends off of competition.
The women will compete in a 6,000-meter race set to start at 4:25 p.m., while the men will follow at 5:05 p.m. for the 8K.
The last time out the Redbirds swept Missouri Valley Conference honors, as Ryan Rutherford grabbed a 13th-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational, while Ariel Michalek finished in the top-100. Battling temperatures in the 80's and hilly terrain, senior standout Rutherford raced to a top-15 finish at the challenging Roy Griak course. Rutherford hung with the top-five through 4,000-meters. He slowed back to 20th, but with 1,000-meters left fought his way to place 13th. In a field of 301 racers from around the country, including top athletes from No. 19 North Carolina, No. 27 Iowa State and No. 29 Colorado State, Rutherford proved he can compete with the best, finishing with an 8,000-meter time of 25:17, which was just four seconds shy of a top-10 finish.
Michalek led the Redbird women, finishing 87th in a field of 390 women. Michalek clocked a 6,000-meter time of 22:57 to lead the ISU group. The Wisconsin transfer battled against some of the nation's top teams, including No.3 Michigan State, No. 9 Iowa State, No. 11 Butler, No. 28 Minnesota and No. 30 North Carolina.
Aidan Askin and Brendan Hoskins led the way for ISU at the 2013 Bradley Classic with times of 26:02 and 26:15, respectively, while Haley Verbeke led the Redbird women with a time of 22:08 to finish 51st.
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