MU Men Place Fourth, Women Take Fifth at Bradley "Pink" Classic

PEORIA, Illinois – The Marquette University cross country teams competed at the Bradley "Pink" Classic on Friday afternoon at Newman Golf Course. The men's team placed fourth out of 20 teams while the women took fifth out of 23 teams.

"We've been talking about all year, just how important it is to take care of our bodies and our minds," interim head coach Sean Birren said. "For the most part, I was really happy with how we raced today, but with this being mid-terms week and us having a lot going on, I could see the effects in some of the scores."

All 15 women's team members who competed ran 6k personal bests today, while Patrick Burns, Patrick Hetlage and Matt Moravec achieved PR's in the 8k on the men's side.

Senior captain Ryan Burd paced the men's team in the red race at the Bradley "Pink" Classic this afternoon, placing fourth (24:17.5) in a heat of 165 runners. Burd's time was the second-best of his career, missing his personal record by just five seconds. Finishing right on his tail was fellow senior Daniel Pederson, who played fifth with a time of 24:20.2.

As a team, MU had five runners compete in the top race, and all of them placed in the top 65 overall, leading to a fourth-place team finish. The Golden Eagles also placed fourth at the BPC in 2017.

On the women's side, Caitlin McGauley continued her stellar senior season on her way to a fifth consecutive top-30 performance this year. McGauley placed 13^th with a new personal-best 6k time of 21:27.0. Junior Emily Foley (21:48.2), sophomore Lauren Neiheisel (22:05.0) and freshman Kate Jochims (22:15.4) each joined her in the top-50 and set personal-bests.

"The girls ran really well once again," Birren said. "It's hard to complain when you have everyone runs a personal-best. I was really proud of how Mary [Rose] Flood ran today with her taking first place in the white race."

The Golden Eagle women placed fifth as a team in the 23-team competition. It's their third fourth time in five meets this season finishing in the top five of a meet.

"We're probably going to cut back on intensity this next week so we can have everyone rested up and ready to go for the BIG EAST Championships [on Nov. 2]," Birren said. "We need to take care of ourselves and make sure we're ready to compete at the best of our abilities in a couple weeks."

WHITE RACE:
The first race of the day began at 1 p.m. with the men's 8k white meet, which MU sent seven runners to compete in. Freshman Greg Van Hollen paced the men with a fourth-place finish, completing the race in a time of 25:44.8. MU placed second overall out of 11 teams. All seven Golden Eagles placed in the top-25 overall in the 118-runner competition.

In the women's 6k white race, MU placed first out of the 10 competing teams, paced by sophomore Mary Rose Flood, who earned a first-place finish overall out of 106 runners. MU's top five runners all finished within one minute of one another.

UP NEXT:
Both teams will travel to the Leatherneck Invitational Oct. 25 at Western Illinois for a final tune-up before heading home for the BIG EAST Championships on Nov. 2.

MEN'S RED RACE:
4th of 20 (165 runners)
4. Ryan Burd: 24:17.5
5. Daniel Pederson: 24:20.2
33. Brad Eagan: 25:05.4
55. Alex Gill: 25:24.5
62. Danny Peterson: 25:34.4

MEN'S WHITE RACE:
2nd of 11 (118 runners)
4. Greg Van Hollen: 25:44.8
11. Patrick Burns: 26:00.3*
15. Josh Urban: 26:06.5
16. Cade Ferron: 26:09.8
18. Matthew Cavanaugh: 26:12.7
23. Patrick Hetlage: 26:25.6*
24. Jadon Conroy: 26:27.4

WOMEN'S RED RACE:
5th of 23 (180 runners)
13. Caitlin McGauley: 21:27.0*
21. Emily Foley: 21:48.2*
34. Lauren Neiheisel: 22:05.0*
44. Kate Jochims: 22:15.4*
63. Kalina Gardiner: 22:34.9*
79. Hannah Ray: 22:49.8*
100. Grace Dargiewicz: 23:08.4*

WOMEN'S WHITE RACE:
1st of 10 (106 runners)
1. Mary Rose Flood: 22:38.7*
4. Emily Noone: 22:54.0*
7. Sophie Bolich: 23:06.6*
11. Emma Moravec: 23:19.6*
17. Anna Penzkover: 23:40.2*
18. Mallory Lafever: 23:50.1*
23. Lauren Pappas: 24:16.0*

*Personal-best time

HISTORY AT BRADLEY "PINK" CLASSIC:
2019:
Men: 4^th
Women: 5^th
2018:
Men: 9^th
Women: 26^th
2017:
Men: 4^th
*Women: 2^nd
2016:
Men: 18^th
Women: 6^th
2014:
Men: 14^th
Women: 4^th
2013:
Men: 6^th
Women: 3^rd
2012:
*Men: 2^nd
Women: 5^th

*Best team finish at Bradley "Pink" Classic

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