ST. LOUIS – Illinois State hosts the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship Friday, October 29, at the Weibring Golf Course in Normal, Illinois. The women open the event with a 6K race that begins at 1 p.m. CT, while the men's 8K race takes place at 2 p.m.
 
Loyola's women's team and Bradley's men's team hold onto the top spot after earning that distinction in the preseason poll. A potential three-peat is in the cards for Loyola. At the same time, Bradley has its eyes set on returning to the top of the podium for the sixth time in seven seasons after finishing second in the spring 2021 championship.
 
Selected by their peers, Loyola earned seven of the 10 first-place votes and a total of 94 points, which gave the Ramblers a one-point advantage and the top spot on the women's side. Leading the Ramblers on a quest for their third straight title is Kathleen Simms. Her 20:51.80 at the Redbird Invitational is the fastest 6K time of the season for any MVC competitor and won her runner of the week. Simms fellow first-team all-conference teammate Mimi Reimers and last spring's athlete of the year, Anneka Murrin, also ran top-10 conference times.  Loyola holds the highest-ranking regional spot of any conference women's program as they sit at 10^th in the Midwest region.
 
Sitting only one point and one regional spot lower than the Ramblers, Bradley earned the final three first-place tallies and a total of 93 points. The Brave's top 6K time of the year came courtesy of freshman Nicola Jansen. She finished fifth in the Bradley Pink Classic with a time of 20:54.6, which was the fastest of any Valley participant. Along with other top-10 MVC runners, Ashley Maguire and Sophia McDonnell, Jansen guided Bradley to a second-place finish in the Bradley Intercollegiate and third at the Bradley Pink Classic.
 
Illinois State tallied 80 points and solidified third place. The Redbirds have put together an impressive season with a win at the Illini Open plus two fourth-place finishes at the Hawkeye Invitational and their own Redbird Invite. Freshman Ailey Mitchell headed the pack with a 21:30.2 and was about eight seconds quicker than Rachel Hickey (21:38.0), while Caroline Meyers (21:56.3) rounded out the 21-minute finishers.
 
The middle of the pack tightens up as fourth through sixth are only separated by eight points, including a one-point difference between Southern Illinois in fourth at 60 and No. 5 Drake with 59. Northern Iowa sits in the sixth position with a total of 52 points.
 
The Salukis of Southern Illinois are paced by MVC runner of the week and Soybean Invitational winner Kayla Schiera's best time of 21:13.9. Joining Schiera are four other runners recording season bests under 22:46. Additionally, the Salukis claimed one team title as the women took home the trophy at the UT Martin's inaugural Soybean Invitational.
 
Drake turns its sights on a back-to-back top-three finish after its third-place finish in the spring. Grabbing a second-place finish at the John Kurtt Fall Invite and a top-five 6K time in the conference via sophomore Brooke Mullins and her 21:11.3 at the Gans Creek Classic. The Bulldogs come into the championship with a nice mixture of youth and experienced runners as three freshmen and three juniors make up the other six of their top seven runners.
 
Northern Iowa has taken aim at its first Missouri Valley Conference championship since the 2016 season.  The Panthers duo of Gabby Champion (21:28.7) and Kiki Connell (21:28.8) posted competitive times that fall within the top 15 of all MVC competitors. UNI's strength comes from its consistency through its lineup, as the top-seven runners have cracked the 23-minute mark.
 
Picked seventh with a combined total of 46 points, Missouri State is another team whose main strength comes from its depth as the top-five runner's best 6K times are within 20 seconds. This has lent itself to the Bears being a midfield mixture in their competitions with a season-best fourth-place finish in the Bearcat Invitational.
 
Eighth place Indiana State earned 33 points as the Sycamores look towards Jocelyn Quiles leadership as the team did in the bronze medal finish as the Evansville Opener. Quiles and her teammates have only gotten quicker throughout the season as their top five all posted their best 6K times in their most recent outing.
 
Valparaiso and Evansville hold the final two spots of the poll as they garnered 21 and 12 points, respectively. The Beacons' Grace Aurand (23:08.8) and Evansville's Anna Lowry (22:02.3) are the front runners for the programs. Lowry has shown her ability to run with the best as she earned an MVC runner of the week earlier in the season.
 

 
After a second-place finish broke their five-year win streak in the spring, Bradley leads a tight race at the top for the men's side as the Braves are favored for its sixth title in seven seasons with 74 points and four of the nine first-place votes. Bradley brings five of the top 10 individual 8K runners to Normal in George Watson (23:58.3), Alec Danner (24:15.0), Jack Crull (24:28.6), Michael Rebello (24:31.2) and Matt Aho (24.31.9). These times and their overall depth helped them garner the top regional ranking in the Missouri Valley Conference as they are seventh in the Midwest region.
 
The Bulldogs of Drake are a close second as they grabbed four first-place votes of their own and 72 cumulative points. This year's top spot in 8K times was last season's runner-up, Adam Fogg. Fogg's time of 23:57.3 was precisely one second quicker than the next fastest MVC runner and almost 12 seconds faster than the two-time runner of the week and teammate Enzo Marie's. Drake also rounds out the regional rankings for MVC schools as they are 11^th in the Midwest region.
 
Spring champions, Illinois State, are touted as third with 62 points and the final first-place vote. The Redbirds started the season strong with team finishes of seventh at the Hawkeye Invitational and fourth in the Redbird Invite. A consistent team up and down the order sees the top-seven runners have 8K finishes under 25:31.3, including a team-best of 24:48.4 by Charlie Wetzel.
 
Loyola comes in fourth with 58 points and has the final two top-10 MVC 8K times with Chantz Visse (24:09.80) in fourth and Blake Buysse (24:21.90) with the sixth. The Ramblers' best finish of the season came in the Redbird Invitational, where they finished in third place and were the class of the MVC.
 
The Salukis find themselves in fifth as they racked up 42 points in the coach's pre-championship voting. A young lineup with all but two of their runners being underclassmen means Southern Illinois will rely on its youth. Sophomores Ethan Senti and Dawson Smith ran the best 8Ks for the Salukis as they recorded times of 24:57.5 and 25:18.2 at the Redbird Invitational.
 
A close competitor in the standings for SIU is No. 6 Indiana State, as its 38 points are only four off the fifth-place Salukis. The Sycamores opened their season with two impressive meets as they earned silver medals along with a fifth-place finish at their home meet.  Another deep team where all top-seven runners fall within 50 seconds of each other's best 8K time with the range varying from Cael Light's 25:17.9 to Ethan Breen's 26:07.1.
 
Taking the seventh, eighth and ninth spots are Northern Iowa, Valparaiso and Evansville. These three finished with point tallies of 26, 24 and nine.
 
Northern Iowa senior and top runner Sam McCool has the task of leading the Panthers squad in Normal. McCool's time of 25:13.2 is over 11 seconds faster than the next UNI runner, Payton Marrs, but only 0.6 seconds separate Marrs and Caleb Shumaker.

Eighth-placed Valparaiso found themselves on the podium once this season as they finished third in the Winrow Valparaiso Open. Eric Carothers was the top Beacons finisher at the 6K open and has the team's best 8K time with a 24:59.1. Another relatively young team with only four of the 14 members above a sophomore classification means they will rely on raw ability more than experience in many cases.
 
The final team of the poll is the Purple Aces of Evansville. Heading the pack is Peter Epur with a time of 25:57.6. The Kenya native ran his best time at the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic. This along with Adam Oulgout's 27:18.7, helped them to their best result of the season as they finished in the middle of the pack in 44^th of 61 competing teams.
 
 

 
Illinois State hosts the 2021 MVC Cross Country Championship, Friday, October 29, in Normal, Illinois. Check out the Valley's championship central page HERE – for more championship details.