Eastern Illinois men's and women's cross country will compete in the Bradley "Pink" Classic on Friday afternoon at the Newman Golf Course in Peoria. The women's 6K race will begin at 3 p.m. followed by the men's 8K race at 3:45 p.m.
The EIU men enter the race ranked sixth in the USTFCCCA Midwest Region. The race will include 30 men's programs including regionally ranked teams Wichita State (5th Midwest), Iowa (10th Midwest), Loyola-Chicago (14th Midwest), Saint Louis (15th Midwest), IUPUI (11th Great Lakes) and Dayton (15th Great Lakes).
The Panther women will face a field that includes 37 teams including seven regionally ranked squads with Iowa (8th Midwest), Loyola-Chicago (9th Midwest), Bradley (10th Midwest), South Dakota State (11th Midwest), Nebraska (12th Midwest), North Dakota State (15th Midwest), Ball State (12th Great Lakes) and Dayton (14th Great Lakes).
In EIU's last meet the men placed third at the Louisville Classic while the women finished in 20th.
Dustin Hatfield led the EIU men's group with a seventh place finish as he was named the OVC Male Runner of the Week. Hatfield set the school record in the 8K distance with a time of 23:28.2.
Jaime Marcos also finished with an 8K time ahead of the previous school record placing 12th with a time of 23:41.4.
Franky Romano,
Adam Swanson and
Andrew Pilat rounded out EIU's top five finishers at the Louisville Classic.
Lindsey Carlson was the top EIU women's finisher at the Louisville Classic with her 5K time of 17:25.1 placing 36th and earning her a third OVC Female Runner of the Week honor.
Kate Bushue was EIU's second finisher in 55th place in a talented field of runners as the senior posted a time of 17:40.6.
Avani Flanagan,
Mackenzie Aldridge and
Katie Springer rounded out the top five EIU finishers for EIU at the event.
