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Bradley Classic Last Stop Before Valley Championships
Oct. 11, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. - Senior Suzy Turner will look for her fourth-straight top finish for the Illinois State women's cross country team, as the men's and women's cross country teams compete at the Bradley Classic on the Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Ill., Friday. This meet will mark the Redbirds final-regular season meet of the 2007 season before they compete at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships (10/27). The women's 6K is slated to begin at 4:15 p.m., followed by the men's 8K. In all, 18 schools will be competing, comprising a field of 17 women's teams and 15 men's teams. Besides Illinois State and host Bradley, The Valley will be represented by Drake, Indiana State (women), Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois (women) and Wichita State. On the women's side, head coach Jeff Bovee is looking for front runners to emerge and challenge each other. "I have been impressed with our women during the past two weeks of practice," said Bovee. "They have been looking really good, and I am really excited to see them put it all together. I think that we are going to see some special things from them, and it will be interesting to see who is going to emerge as our top runner. Suzy (Turner) has been our top finisher and is always going to be putting herself in the position to make things happen; however, I hope that we have a couple of other women challenge her because it is going to make us stronger." The Redbird men have had four solid finishers all year, but will need a squad of eight strong to finish at the top of the Bradley Classic. The nucleus of junior Mike Richardson, sophomores Jordan Anderson and Scott Krapf and freshman Matt Mroczynski have led the squad in all of their appearances. In order for the ISU men to solidify their team, the `Birds will need a strong performance from their fifth-place finisher at the Bradley Classic.
Bovee looks at this meet as an opportunity for the men to gain confidence and run against Valley schools before the conference championship meet. "The men have not had a lot of opportunities to run against Valley schools, so this meet is really going to mean a lot for them," said Bovee. "We have been doing high intensity training and there have been a lot of guys running strong that have been responding well to this type of training." The Redbird men's and women's cross country teams are currently ranked No. 13 in the Midwest Division I NCAA U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. |
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