PEORIA, Ill. – Illinois State women's cross country team earned their first first-place victory of the season at the Bradley Classic with many capturing their personal-best performances. There were eight men and 10 women that ran their personal-best times.
"Both teams performed their best meet of the year," Illinois State Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee said. "I was really proud of both the men and women. Men finished fourth behind three really good Big Ten schools however, they performed well. I am really pleased how we battled. If you take a look at our average 6K time for women and our average 8K time for men, it's by far the fastest we have ever had."
On the women's side, Ariel Michalek ran an impressive time of 20:45 earning her personal-best performance. Michalek was the first Redbird to cross the finish line and placed seventh overall. Haley Goers finished 16th with a personal-best time of 21:06. Kelly McShea, Ashley England, Kimi Sanden, Erica Brown, Haley Verbeke, Megan Krolak, Kennidi Knoblock and Rachel Devereux all earned personal-best performances.
McShea crossed the finish line with a time of 21:17. England finished with a time of 21:48, shedding 39 seconds from her previous personal-best of 22:27. Sanden ran a personal-best of 21:50, improving 40 seconds from her previous personal-best of 22:30.
Brown ran a time of 21:53. Verbeke and Krolak crossed the finish line at 22:07, respectively. Knoblock earned a time of 22:29 and Devereux finished with a time of 22:51.
On the men's side, Tyler Morse crossed the finish line with a personal-best 8K time of 24:18 and placed 12th. Jeff Bajema was not too far behind, finishing with a personal-best time of 24:19 and placing 14th. Kyle Mattes ran another spectacular race earning a personal-best time of 24:38 and placed 28th.
Jesse Hahne, Joe Singleton, Brendan Hoskins, J.D. LaFayette, Paul Steeno, Aidan Askin and Wes Ward all earned personal-best performances. Hahne ran a time of 24:53. Joe Singleton earned a time of 25:04, shedding 64 seconds from his previous personal-best of 26:08 where he ran at the 2014 Country Financial Illinois State Invitational.
Another impressive performance came from junior Brendan Hoskins. Hoskins ran a time of 25:11, shedding 52 seconds from his previous personal-best of 26:02. Redshirt freshman J.D. LaFayette was another Redbird that captured a personal-best performance. LaFayette ran a time of 25:15. Steeno and Ward picked up times of 25:35 and 25:56, respectively. Askins ran a time of 25:45, shedding of 21 seconds from his previous personal-best time of 26:06.
Ryan Rutherford ran unattached and finished second place overall with a time of 23.49. Rutherford won the Bradley Classic last year in 2014. He broke the meet record for the fastest men's 8K with a time of 24:21.6. This year he improved his time by 32 seconds and will now hold the second fastest-time in history of the Bradley Classic.
"We have some room for improvement. I don't think we have hit it full cylinders yet, but we really have bounded back from not getting the results we were hoping for at Notre Dame. Now we have to get ready for the conference championships, and this is exactly what we needed heading into Missouri Valley Conference Championships," said Bovee.
Both men's and women's are back in action on Oct. 23 in Champaign, Ill. at the Illini Open. Follow live action on Twitter via @Redbird_TrackXC, or go to GoRedbirds.com for full coverage following the conclusion of the meet.
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