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Cross country women first, men second at WIU Early Bird

The Bradley cross country team repeated history at Spring Lark Park this past Friday defending its previous championship title.

At its first debut of the season, the women’s team placed first and the men’s team placed second at the Western Illinois Early Bird.

“This didn’t come as a surprise,” men and women’s head coach Darren Gauson said. “I expected us to win on both sides. We have our elite runners out there.”

The women held nine positions of the top 11 finishers, starting with sophomore Elena Danielson taking third place with a time of 15:06.4 in her first career 4K. Coming in shortly after was freshman Sara Piller with a time of 15:11.2 and junior Nicole Lopez-Villegas following behind at 15:36.9, skimming 33 seconds off her career-best 4K.

Sophomore Molly Leveille also reduced her time by more than 40 seconds placing her sixth overall at 15:37.8. This time difference was a key factor in the team’s win.

“We had a one minute gap between our first scorer and our last scorer, so that was a big stance for us,” Gauson said.

The women’s cross country team received a total of 20 points, leaving it well ahead of Western Illinois who came in second with a total of 57 points.

For the men’s team, its second place overall finish was aided by several individuals, including sophomore Taylor Floyd Mews who landed in fourth place. Mews had a career-best 6K with a time of 19:35.6, leaving him only 20 seconds behind the individual champion.

Also in the top 10 was junior Mike Bianchina with a time of 20:00.3, where he placed 10th. Marshall Moyer, coming in at 20:00.6, was barely pushed out of the top 10 by Bianchina.

Moyer wasn’t the only individual who missed the top 10 by a second’s difference. Junior Steffen Uhrich came in a full second after Bianchina at 20:00.7, placing him in 12th.

Both the men and women’s teams will be back at full speed this evening when they host the 12th Bradley Intercollegiate at 5 p.m. at Detweiller Park.

“Our focus is on the bigger meets coming up with nationally ranked teams,” Gauson said. “We are looking forward to compete against these teams and keep a focus on trying to win a championship.”

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