Bradley’s cross country team traveled to Percy Warner Park in Nashville for the annual Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Oct. 27. Overall, there were some great moments for the team to reflect on.
Andrew Carlson’s first MVC Championship as Bradley’s head coach ended on a high note. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished second overall with final scores of 71 and 59, respectively.
On the men’s side, two runners had top 10 performances. Senior Michael Rebello finished in seventh with a time of 24:51.7, just thirty seconds from first place. It was also a nice day for freshman Jayde Roslee. In his first conference championship, he finished 10th, crossing the finish line at 24:58.3 and bringing home men’s Freshman of the Year. Both made the All-Conference First Team with these times.
Freshman Oliver Burns finished in 15th with a time of 25:13.4, with senior Rodrigo Alvarez Gonzalez just milliseconds behind him. Burns earned an All-Conference Honorable Mention for his performance.
Two more runners came in the top 10 on the women’s team. Redshirt junior Wilma Nielsen finished sixth overall, clocking in at almost 21 minutes flat, while junior Abigail Hancock finished in eighth place with a time of 21:14.75. The two also made the All-Conference First Team by finishing in those spots.
All-Conference Honorable Mentions went to sophomores Nadia Potgieter and Trixie Wraith, who finished with times of 21:22.41 and 21:42.43, respectively. Potgieter finished in 11th while Wraith finished 15th, earning her Freshman of the Year on the women’s side. Sophomore Anna Perry rounded out the top 20 for Bradley with a 19th-place finish.
This season, both the men and women were able to finish first in two meets, with those being the first two meets of the season. The men added a couple more top-five finishes on top of that, coming in fourth at Missouri and third in the second home meet.
The NCAA Midwest Regional is set for Nov. 10 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In the regionals last year, the women’s side finished in third place while the men finished eighth. Many of the runners hope to put up great performances that will take them to the National Championships.
