Brescia Women's Cross Country Finishes Regular Season

The Brescia Cross Country teams completed their final regular season meet on Oct. 20th at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Women's race kicked off at 1:45 p.m. ET following the Men's race. Madeline Jones (SO, Mount Carmel, Ill.) was the first Lady Bearcat to finish the 5k at 21:45, running a new season PR. Jones placed 40th out of 106 in the race. Autumn Tonkins (JR, Evansville, Ind.) was the final Lady Bearcat across the finish line at 23:53, good for 77th place.

The Bearcats had to battle the weather throughout the meet, especially the women's team, who ran through hail at one point. "The conditions for the women's race were definitely difficult mentally as well as physically," said Jones.

Jones continued to say, "At the start of the race, the weather was sunny, but about 300 meters in, the wind blew and all hail broke loose. It continued throughout the rest of the race and I was very cold but the course overall was in very good conditions."

Head Coach Luke Stoffel said, "This was the first time we ran this course and I am happy with the results we came away with. Madeline ran a season best and Autumn was very close to a PR. The weather conditions were not ideal for the women's race, but they still put in full effort and ran well."

The Bearcats will be back in action on Nov. 3rd for the River States Conference Championship at Yellow Creek Park in Owensboro, Ky.

By Kyle Robinson, Sports Editor