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Men’s cross country wins Illini Open, women take second

While the majority of the cross country team rested before the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference Championship, a few athletes hit the ground running at the Illini Open.

The men’s team won the event, led by freshman Taylor Floyd Mews, who posted a total time of 25:46.97 to take home fifth place in the event. Bradley placed two runners in the top 10 and four in the top 16 to take home the title by 11 points over Illinois State.

Freshman Nikolas Hess clocked in a time of 26:01.55, good for a 13th-place finish, placing him seven seconds ahead of sophomore Mike Bianchina, who finished 16th.

For the second straight race, sophomore Steffen Uhrich set a new career-fastest time in the 8K, crossing the line with a 25:56.94 to beat his old time by 20 seconds.

Head Coach Willy Wood said the younger runners, like Hess and Floyd Mews, have grown tremendously since the start of the season.

“I think they’ve made great progress, not only physically, but in their mental approach to everything,” Wood said. “I think they have a better understanding of what being successful entails. They’re very confident because they’ve been training for higher mileage amounts than they’re used to. They’re just getting better by the week.”

The women’s team was not able to take home the title, but they came the closest. Mackenzie Griffin set a personal record in the 5K, running a 18:54.20 to finish 12th. She shaved sixteen seconds off her previous best time, set in last season’s Illini Open.

Kylie McKinney, who paced Bradley last week at the Bradley Classic, turned in another strong performance in Champaign. Her time of 18:55.26 placed her 13th, just over a second behind Griffin.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will look to build on the performances of the last two weeks at the MVC Championships, held Nov. 1 in Carbondale, Illinois. Wood said he believes the host Salukis could pose a bit of a challenge for the Braves.

“Southern Illinois won [both the men’s and women’s championships] last year and returned almost their entire team, and they’re at home, so I’d have to think that’s somewhat of an advantage,” Wood said. “The Indiana State men look very good as well, but I’m confident that we’re ready to go.”

Wood said that while the meet is important, it may not be as important as one would think. Nonetheless the Braves have to be on their game mentally if they want to do well.

“A lot of times this meet is made into something much bigger than it really is,” Wood said. “I think as long as they can keep their heads, understand that they’re fit, talented and fully capable of competing with these people, we’ll be fine. It’s just going to be much more mastering the moment than doing anything in particular physically.”

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