Oct. 12, 2011

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mizzou men's and women's cross country teams are back in action this week, as the women's squad will participate in the Bradley Classic on Friday (Oct. 14) in Peoria, Ill., while the men's team will compete Sunday (Oct. 16) at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute., Ind.

The Tiger women will join Illinois, Saint Louis University, the host Braves and 17 other teams at Friday's meet, with the women's 6K race beginning at 4:20 p.m. CT at Newman Golf Course. The first third of the course is flat, with the last two-thirds made up of rolling hills. Complete meet information, including a full list of competing squads is available here.

Mizzou women's head coach Rebecca Wilmes selected nine runners to represent Mizzou in Peoria: Seniors Aime Bonte (Fenton, Mo.) and Laura Roxberg (Overland Park, Kan.); junior Bailey Belvis (Prosper, Texas); sophomores Marie O'Leary (Normal, Ill.) and Maggie Priebe (Wausau, Wis.); and freshmen Courtney Brown (Palatine, Ill.), Liz Reida (Springfield, Mo.), Brianna Westervelt and Courtney Wood (Neosho, Mo.).

"We're looking forward to lining up this Friday at the Bradley Classic and asserting ourselves early on in the race,” Wilmes said. “We look to take a step forward as a team this Friday and set ourselves up for Championship season, starting with the Big 12 Championships in two weeks."

Two days after the women run in Illinois, Mizzou's men's squad will travel to neighboring Indiana for the second straight meet as the Tigers will compete in the NCAA Pre-Nationals at Indiana State University. 34 teams will join Mizzou at the nation's largest annual collegiate cross country meet, including Big 12 foe Kansas State and top-10 teams Iona, Indiana and Colorado. The men's 8K begins at 10 a.m. CT. Complete meet information can be found here.

Tiger men's coach Joe Lynn picked 10 athletes to run for Mizzou at Pre-Nats: Redshirt seniors Dan Quigley (St. Louis, Mo.) and Kyle Rood (St. Peters, Mo.); redshirt junior Kevin McKee (Kansas City, Mo.); junior Max Storms (Kansas City, Mo.); redshirt sophomores Tyler Compton (Buffalo, Mo.) and Hayden Legg (Mexico, Mo.); sophomore Merid Seleshi (Scarborough, Ontario); redshirt freshman JT McCarthy (Burlington, Iowa); and freshmen Bryant Blahnik and Sam Dickerson.

“Our training and fitness have looked great the past few weeks, so this weekend should provide a great indication of the progress we have made as a team,” Lynn said. “The Pre-National meet, as it always does, will include some of the best teams in the country, so we're looking forward to using this experience to prepare us for the Big 12 meet and beyond.”

Following this weekend's competitions, the Mizzou men and women will travel to College Station, Texas, on Oct. 29 for the Big 12 Championships on the campus of Texas A&M University. For full coverage of the Bradley Classic and NCAA Pre-Nationals and the latest updates on Tiger Cross Country, stay tuned to MUTigers.com.

###