PEORIA, Ill. — Senior Nathan Leech (Fremont, Neb.) turned in a career-best 8K time and finished fourth to help lead the Bradley men’s cross country team to a second-place finish at the 22nd annual Bradley Open at Detweiller Park Friday evening. The women’s team finished in fourth place, with sophomore Rachel Brubaker (Davis, Ill./Durand) taking ninth place to pace the Braves.

The men’s team totaled 53 points, four points better than Western Illinois and 46 points better than Missouri Valley Conference member Northern Iowa. Leech led the men’s team with his career-best time of 25:52. Senior Chris George (Normal, Ill./University) also turned in a top ten finish with a time of 26:16 to place seventh. Senior Nick Palumbo (McHenry, Ill.) was next for the Braves in 12th place with a time of 26:27 and was followed by junior Nathan Ahart (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) in 14th place at 26:40. Redshirt freshman Andrew Wieser (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) finished out the scoring for Bradley with a 16th-place finish in 26:46.

Brubaker led the women’s team with a 5K time of 19:14 to finish in ninth place and was followed by freshman Mary Goldkamp (Florissant, Mo./McCluer North) in 10th place with a time of 19:18. Senior Ainslie Schultz (Forest City, Iowa) turned in a time of 19:32 for 14th place, followed by redshirt freshman Marlana Haefelin (Sandwich, Ill.) in 15th place with a time of 19:35. Freshman Leann Murphy (Rochester, Ill.) finished 26th with a time of 20:12 in her first collegiate 5K race to complete the scoring for the Braves.

Indiana State had the top three finishers and claimed the men’s team title for the second consecutive year with 21 points. Scott Koressel of Indiana State was the top men’s finisher with a time of 25:28. Northern Iowa won the women’s race with 45 points, beating out defending champion Indiana State by 13 points. Caedryn Schrunk and Traci Hawley finished one-two for the Panthers with times of 17:58 and 18:01, respectively.

North Central College won the men’s college division title with 27 points. Erik Steffens of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville won the men’s college division individual title with a time of 25:46. Olivet Nazarene claimed the women’s team title, led by individual women’s champion Bethany Carr, who finished with a time of 18:13.

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will be back in action Saturday, September 29th at the Minnesota Invitational in Minneapolis. The men’s race starts at 12:10 p.m., followed by the women’s race at 12:55 p.m.