Bradley Classic Results 

PEORIA, Ill. – Kelsey Hildreth of the Northern Illinois University cross country team broke her own school record at the six-kilometer distance and finished second overall, leading the Huskies to a 13th-place team finish at the Bradley Classic on Friday evening at the Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Ill.

Hildreth (Byron, Ill./Byron) crossed the line second in a field of almost 300 runners in a time of 20:27.8 – better than her previous NIU 6K record of 20:33.0. The super sophomore only finished behind South Dakota’s Amber Eichkorn, a 2014 NCAA Championships qualifier.

Racing against 30 other teams, the Huskies finished in 13th thanks top-100 efforts from Ericka Hibser (Lewiston, Ill./Lewiston), Lorena Martin (Salamanca, Spain/IFS Fray Luis de Leon) and Katie Bristow (Lerwick, Scotland/Glasgow Caledonian) and another scoring mark from Maura Beattie (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock) in the red division race.

NIU cross country head coach Adrian Myers was pleased with the performances of his top runners and believes the Huskies are primed for good things in the upcoming postseason.

"Our one through four we had a very solid showing today against many regional powers. We re-wrote the NIU 6K record book today," Myers said. "We need to tighten up our race execution before MAC, but I like where we are heading into the championships. It's time to truly see how good we are this year."

Along with Hildreth’s personal- and school-record performance, every other Huskie that competed at the Bradley Classic also set collegiate PRs on Friday evening.

Hibser and Martin shattered their personal records in the 6K with times of 21:18.9 and 21:41.5, respectively, moving into third- and fourth-place spots on the NIU all-time cross country performers list with with the sixth and 12th-best times every ran by NIU runners. Bristow’s mark of 21:53.5 was her debut in the 6K for NIU and earned her sixth spot on that same list. Beattie also crossed the line in a much-improved 6K time of 22:41.1.

Taylor Perkins (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North), Michaela Heit (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) and Kayla Fallis (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) also all set PRs in the 6K distance in a universally impressive display for the Huskies. Heit placed 14th in the white division race with her best ever 6K time.

The Huskies next head to the Mid-American Conference Championships at Akron on Halloween for the conference meet in two weeks.

--NIU--