NORMAL, Ill. – After a weekend off, the Illinois State Cross Country program is back and set to travel to Peoria, Illinois for the Bradley Pink Classic on Friday, Oct. 15. The action from Newman Golf Course is slated to begin with the women's 6K and men's 8K white "B" races at 1:30 p.m. and 2:15 p.m., respectively. The women's 6K and men's 8K red "A" races will follow at 3:00 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. to close out the meet. All race times are CT.
THE COMPETITION
In total, 37 women's programs and 30 men's programs will be in competition, including eight schools from the Missouri Valley Conference, two schools from the Big Ten and one Big 12 opponent.
The teams in competition at the Bradley Pink Classic include: Bradley, Ball State, Bellarmine, Central Michigan, Creighton, Dayton, DePaul, Drake, Eastern Illinois, Green Bay, UIC, Indiana State, Iowa, IUPUI, Loyola, Marquette, Missouri State, Nebraska, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, Omaha, Saint Louis, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, SIU Edwardsville, St. Thomas, UT-Martin, Valparaiso, Western Illinois, Western Michigan, Wichita State and Xavier
JOE PIANE INVIATIONAL
At the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, junior Rachel Hickey and sophomore Tyler Klouda paced the Redbirds in their respective 5K and 8K races.
In the women's gold division race, Hickey finished 28th overall in her first 5K race of the season, clocking in at 18:08.0. Sophomore Ashley Heagy and junior Caroline Meyers also set personal bests in the women's 5K race, finishing second and third for the Redbird women. The women's finished 14th out of 24 teams overall.
For the men, Klouda finished first among ISU runners in a time of 25:31.3 to place 37th in just his first cross country race of the season. The men's team finished 11th overall out of 21 teams.
LAST TIME AT THE BRADLEY PINK CLASSIC
The Redbirds are back at the Bradley Pink Classic for the first time since 2019. Last time out, Illinois State had 11 runners record personal-best times, including current runners Matt Blanco and Tyler Polak in the 8K race and Kylie Haggman, Mackenzie Brownrigg, Maddi Exline, Kendy Ummel and Paige Arseneau in the 6K race.
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
For fans who can't be in attendance, follow along on Twitter at @RedbirdTFXC for updates from the Bradley Pink Classic. Live results will also be available here.
UP NEXT
After the Bradley Pink Classic, the 'Birds will travel to Champaign, Illinois for the Illini Invite on Friday, Oct. 22 to close out the regular season. ISU will then return home to host the 2021 MVC Championships on Friday, Oct. 29.
ILLINOIS STATE STARTING LINE – WOMEN'S 6K WHITE
Paige Arseneau (So.) // Mackenzie Brownrigg (So.) // Jenna Gruber (Fr.) // Kylie Hagmann (So.) // Viviana Sanfilippo (Fr.) // Kaitlin Skeate (Fr.) // Kendy Ummel (So.)
ILLINOIS STATE STARTING LINE – MEN'S 8K WHITE
Julian Head (Fr.) // Ryan Kennedy (Jr.) // Zachary Loomis (Fr.) // Charles Murphy (R-So.) // Harris Porter (R-Jr.) // Jordan Wood (Sr.)
ILLINOIS STATE STARTING LINE – WOMEN'S 6K RED
Maddi Exline (R-Jr.) // Claire Fuhlhage (R-Jr.) // Lucie Grandjean (Fr.) // Ashley Heagy (Fr.) // Rachel Hickey (Jr.) // Caroline Meyers (Sr.) // Ailey Mitchell (Fr.) // Mattison Plummer (Fr.) // Lauren Schulze (Fr.)
ILLINOIS STATE STARTING LINE – MEN'S 6K RED
Matt Blanco (Jr.) // Lucas Capistrant (Jr.) // Jake Gillum (Sr.) // Charlie Kistner (Fr.) // Joseph Morrison (Sr.) // Tyler Polak (So.) // Riley Wells (So.) // Charlie Wetzel (Fr.)
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