PEORIA, Ill. – The Illinois State cross-country program concludes its regular season at the Bradley Pink Classic on Friday. The event will be held at the Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Illinois.
A pair of Redbirds will compete in the men's white 8k race at 12:00 p.m. The Redbird men will compete in the red 8k race at 1:30 p.m., followed immediately by the women participating in the red 6k race at 2:15 p.m. Live results can be tracked through Shazam Racing. The action can be streamed at ESPN+, beginning at 12:00 p.m.
RETURN TO PEORIA
Illinois State will compete in the Bradley Pink Classic for the sixth-consecutive year. Both men's and women's squads placed sixth in their respective events in 2025. Junior Julian Baker led the Redbird men with a time of 24:33.32 in the 8k for 20th place. Senior Nora Brady set the current program record with a time of 20:38.89 in the 6k, finishing fifth among all women. Sophomore Pauline Schedler ran a time of 21:07.32 for 18th place.
LAST TIME OUT
The Redbirds recently competed at the Joe Piane Invitational (Oct. 2) in South Bend, Indiana. The men's squad placed fifth in the blue 8k race, while the women's team finished 11th in the blue 5k.
Baker paced the Redbird men with a personal-best time of 23:26.5 for 10th place. This marked the second time in his collegiate career where he led the men's team in consecutive meets, going back to the Gans Creek Classic and Bradley Pink Classic in 2025.
Senior Cayde de Waal earned a personal-best time in the event, crossing the finish line at 24:19.5 for 41st overall. Freshman Max Weber significantly improved his 8k time from the Redbird Invitational (Sept. 18), recording a mark of 24:20.7 for 43rd. Junior Will Gelon finished 45th with a personal-best time of 24:22.8. Sophomore Quinn Davis became the fifth Redbird to notch a personal-best time in the race, finishing at 24:54.3 for 95th place.
Brady led the Redbird women for the second-straight meet, finishing with a personal-record time of 17:07.98 for 46th place. Junior Johanna Ebert set a personal-best mark of 17:14.25 for 56th among the field.
TOP-10 PERFORMANCES
Four Redbirds etched their names in the record books from their performances at the Joe Piane Invitational (Oct. 2). Baker was the lone male student-athlete to enter the top-10 all-time performers list for an 8k race, placing third ahead of Zack Loomis' 2024 MVC Championship time of 23:32.5.
Brady, Ebert, and Schedler all recorded top-10 5k times in program history. Brady moved up to third all-time with her time of 17:07.98, surpassing a three-way tie for fourth place by one second. Ebert sits eighth with her time of 17:14.25, while Schedler is tied for ninth with her time of 17:17.48, matching Haley Goers' performance from the 2015 MVC Championships.
REGIONAL RANKINGS
The Redbird women enter this week ranked 13th in the Midwest Region by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), while the Redbird men are ranked 12th in the Week 4 NCAA DI Cross Country Regional Rankings.
Two additional MVC women's programs are ranked by the USTFCCCA: Bradley, ninth in the Midwest Region, and Indiana State, 14th in the Great Lakes Region. For men's programs, Bradley is ranked ninth in the Midwest Region, while Belmont sits 13th in the South Region.
THE FIELD
Over 20 collegiate programs from various conferences will be featured in the men's and women's red races. Familiar Missouri Valley Conference programs include Bradley, Drake, Illinois-Chicago, and Northern Iowa.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH JEFF BOVEE
On race expectations and familiarity
"At Notre Dame, we saw a lot of teams from other regions and different parts of the country. So, there was a lot more unfamiliarity, not only with competition, but also with the course because most of them had never been on that course before. This course at Bradley is probably the course they're most familiar with and running against teams that we're most familiar with from the Missouri Valley or from the Midwest Region."
"For those reasons, we're able to come up with a race plan that not only know what we're trying to do as a group from within the team, but also to have a little more of a match up with some of the regional rivals that we have. We're more familiar with tendencies from other runners, so we're able to dial in a little more and focus. So, it's a balance of being like, 'We're here to compete against other teams, but also need to make sure that we are running our race plan.' So, we're looking to be a team that's up there trying to compete for the top team spots in those competitions."
STARTING LINE – WOMEN
Nora Brady (Sr.) // Cameron Crump (So.) // Johanna Ebert (Jr.) // Grace Erb (Sr.) // Becca Heitzig (Jr.) // Emily King (Fr.) // Pauline Schedler (So.) // Astrid Van Breedam (Jr.)
STARTING LINE – MEN
Julian Baker (Jr.) // Luke Barham (Jr., Open) // Quinn Davis (So.) // Cayde de Waal (Sr.) // Ethan Eichhorn (Jr.) // Will Gelon (Jr.) // Karson Hollander (Sr.) // Blake Oleson (Sr.) // Ethan Reynoso (Sr.) // Alex Rodriguez (Fr.) // Kane Shields (Sr., Open) // Max Weber (Fr.)
For the latest updates on Illinois State Cross Country, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com, follow the Redbirds on X (@RedbirdTFXC) and Instagram (isuredbirdtfxc) and like the team on Facebook (Illinois State Track & Field/Cross Country).
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