With the regular season complete, the University of Evansville men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Peoria, Ill. to compete in the 2018 Missouri Valley Championships on Saturday morning, hosted by Bradley.
Being held at Newman Golf Course, the action begins with the women’s 5-kilometer race at 10:300 a.m. with the men’s 8-kilometer race following at 11:30 a.m..
The Purple Aces’ men’s and women’s teams are coming off successful regular seasons that saw the men earn top five finishes in all five meets, while Evansville’s women won three-straight meets and finished fourth-or-better in every competition during the regular season.
Heading into the MVC Championships, the conference’s coaches participated in a pre-championship poll. Reigning champions on both the men’s and women’s side, Bradley, were picked to repeat as champions with the Braves’ women the unanimous selection to repeat.
For the Aces’ women’s team, sophomore Anna Lowry and senior Sienna Crews have led the way for Evansville, finishing first and second for UE in all five competitions. Evansville has been consistent on the men’s side as well, with junior Stanley Chepchieng pacing Evansville in the five meets this season.
At the MVC Championship a season ago, Evansville’s women’s team finished 10th, just eight points behind ninth-place Valparaiso. Crews led UE at last year’s championship, finishing in a time of 19:14.76 in 53rd place. On the men’s side, the Aces earned a ninth-place finish with 276 total points, 29 back of Valparaiso who finished in eighth place.
