The Bradley men’s and women’s cross-country teams ran to second place finishes at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships this last week. Their high finish gives both teams a date at the NCAA Regional Tournament on Nov. 12 in Iowa City, Iowa.
Led by senior Alec Danner, the men’s team finished second with a total team score of 53. The 2020-21 all-MVC selection Danner finished fifth behind a runner from Loyola and three runners from Drake, finishing with a time of 24:42.9. Following right behind were seniors Charlie Parrish and Matt Aho, with times of 24:51.2 and 24:54.5, respectively.
After a fifth-place finish, Danner seemed a little disappointed in his race.
“I ran okay,” Danner said. “For the day, I did what I could. I would have liked to pick off the Loyola runner in front of me and perhaps a Drake runner. Overall, though, it was okay.”
Nevertheless, the fifth place finish was good enough for Danner’s best finish in his career at the MVC Championships.
“With it being my best finish ever at the Missouri Valley Championship, I have to take this as a small win going forward,” Danner said.
Junior George Watson finished fourth with a time of 25:07.8. Behind Watson were sophomores Billy Hauenstein and Rodrigo Alvarez-Gonzalez with times of 25:14.7 and 25:23.2, respectively. The next Brave to finish was sophomore Noah Costa, crossing the line at 26:11.4. Rounding out the men was sophomore Jack Crull with a time of 26:52.6.
On the women’s side, Bradley finished in second place as well with a score of 62. The Braves were led by freshman Nicola Jansen, with a time of 21:02.3 — good enough for a third-place finish.
Jansen, a native of Pretoria, South Africa, shared her stress of running at the MVC Championship. The freshman mentioned the difficulty of dealing with the weather that she is not used to.
“Conference is a big deal here, and it is something that everyone looks forward to, so it was a bit stressful beforehand,” Jansen said.
The Braves followed in with times of 21:30.4 from junior Sophia McDonnell and 21:41.3 by sophomore Wilma Nielsen. Sophomore Ashley Maguire finished fourth on the Braves with a time of 21:58.9. Not too far behind Maguire was sophomore Julia Nielsenat 22:11.4. Rounding out the women’s side were sophomore Tiana Lostracco, junior Lily Strauss and senior Amelia Lesher with times of 22:41.2, 23:14.0 and 23:31.8, respectively.
Head coach Darren Gauson was pleased with both teams at the MVC Championship. Gauson mentioned how he was expecting the men to be closer to Drake, but overall was content with second place, good enough to move on to Regionals.
“We are not done, and we still have a lot to prove at Regionals,” Gauson said. “We have the opportunity for individuals to advance to Nationals, and if we are able to stay perfect as a team, we could be in the mix for the team aspect.”
If any Bradley runners were to advance past Regionals on Nov. 12., they would compete at the National Championship will be held at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida on Nov. 20.Colten Kahler
