PEORIA, Ill. – Competing in a field featuring some of the top teams in the Midwest region, the UIC cross country programs ran at the annual Bradley Pink Classic Friday afternoon. The men's squad placed 19^th in a field of 35 teams while the women took 27^th out of 38 teams.
 
"Today we raced hard against several competitive teams that we will face at both the conference and regional championships," said interim head coach Paul Zavala. "Event with a few team members running personal bests, we will have to collectively compete even strong in order to finish among the best teams in our postseason championships."
 
Daniel Chavez led the Flames Friday with a 51^st-place finish, completing the 8k course in 24:21.9. It was a new personal best for the freshman, who now owns the No. 2 time in program history in the 8k. The freshman was 1-of-4 Flames to set new PRs Friday, with Jenna Boyle, Drey Maton and Angel Solis also setting personal bests.

Dathan Maton was UIC's second-best finisher, crossing the line in 24:56.3 to finish 104^th overall. Boyle paced the women in the 6k competition, finishing in 124^th position with a time of 22:14.1, while Teresa Mejia (22:14.9) finished 0.8 seconds behind Boyle to finish in 126^th place.
 
Mark Lemke finished 138^th overall with a time of 25:14.4, Alex Bacci posted a time of 25:21.1 to finish in 152^nd position and Drey Maton was four seconds behind with a time of 25:25.7 (163^rd place).
 
Cailyn Persinger completed the course in 22:34.5 to finish in 163^rd place, Emma Creviston finished in 181^st position (22:47.1) and Cassie Ogburn rounded out the UIC scoring with a time of 23:50.2 to finish in 247^th place.
 
UIC returns to action in two weeks on Friday, Oct. 28 at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.