Oct. 10, 2012

Marquette Notes (PDF)  | Bradley Classic Meet Information

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette University men's and women's cross country teams return to action in a final tune-up for the BIG EAST Conference Championships on Friday, Oct. 12 at the Bradley Classic in Peoria, Ill.

Action is set to kick off at the Newman Golf Course with the men's 8,000-meter open at 3 p.m., followed by the women's 6,000-meter open at 3:40 p.m. The men's 8k championship race, which will feature 12 Marquette runners is slated for 4:25 p.m., while the women's championship race will commence at 5:05 p.m.

It is the first 6k race of the season for the Marquette women and the first collegiate 6k for sophomore Kenzie Vicker as well as freshmen Molly Hanson, Kellie Greenwood, Sarah Poirier and Kayla Spencer.

Although the men did not compete at Bradley last season, the MU women notched a ninth-place finish in 2011, led by then-freshman Elisia Meyle in 30th place.

Men's student-athletes competing (19):
Varsity (12) - Callahan, Campbell, Corr, Gedwill, Haberkorn, Hackett, Hennessy, Lacy, Maag, Ross, Sajdak, Senefeld
Open (7) - Agnew, Grese, Lawson, McDonald, Schmitz, Young, Franz/Tineo-Paz

Men's teams competing (23):
Bowling Green, Bradley, Creighton, Danville, DePaul, Drake, Eastern Illinois, Eureka, Illinois, Illinois State, IPFW, IUPUI, Kaskaskia, Lincoln, Marquette, Northern Iowa, Oakland, Purdue, Saint Louis, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Women's student-athletes competing (14):
Varsity (11) - Ball, Budelier, Frett, Hanson, Greenwood, Magliola, Pachuta, Poirier, Robertson, Sliepka, Spencer
Open (3) - Hoffman, Loprieno, Vicker

Women's teams competing (27):
Bowling Green, Bradley, Creighton, Danville, DePaul, Drake, Eastern Illinois, Eureka, Illinois, Illinois State, IPFW, IUPUI, Kaskaskia, Lincoln, Marquette, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Oakland, Purdue, Saint Louis, Southern Illinois, UAB, Western Illinois, Western Michigan, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee

LAST TIME OUT: The Marquette women notched a 22nd-place finish in the gold race, and the men 23rd, at the 11th Annual Greater Louisville Classic at E.P. `Tom' Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.

The women were led by freshman Molly Hanson who finished 88th in a time of 17:56. Hanson also led Marquette, which was without the services of Elisia Meyle and Kellie Greenwood Saturday due to illness, at the National Catholic Championships on Sept. 15.

Senior Connor Callahan paced the Marquette men in 119th place with a time of 25:28.29, followed by Jack Hackett in 126th (25:30.57). Freshman Cody Haberkorn was Marquette's third finisher in 145th place (25:44.66), followed by seniors Patrick Maag (159th, 25:53.89) and Jack Senefeld (173th, 26:01.30) in his first action of the season.

NOTES/QUICK HITS:
• Senior Connor Callahan has led the MU men at all three meets to begin the season.
• Freshman Molly Hanson has led the MU women at the last two meets, while sophomore Elisia Meyle led MU at the NIU Huskie Open (Sept. 7).
• The MU women are ranked 12th in the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region, while the men are unranked.
• Head coach Mike Nelson is in his sixth season with the Golden Eagles in 2012.
• Six returning men's runners have competed in at least a pair of BIG EAST Conference Championships. Senior Connor Callahan is the only returning student-athlete to have run in the last three conference and NCAA Great Lakes Regional meets.
• Although having spent their high school years in Southeastern Wisconsin, MU has a pair of foreign-born runners in Sarah Ball (England) and Andres Tineo-Paz (Venezuela).

UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles return to action on Friday, Oct. 26 at the 2012 BIG EAST Conference Cross Country Championships, hosted by St. John's, at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y. The Marquette men tied their best BIG EAST finish in 2011 with a seventh-place finish at E.P. `Tom' Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., while the women finished ninth. The conference meet was last held at Van Cortlandt Park in 2008.