What's Ahead: The Drake University women's cross country will head east to close out the regular season at the Bradley Classic Friday, Oct. 12. The race, hosted by Bradley University on a 6-kilometer course at the Newman Golf Course, is set to start at 4 p.m.

"Our women's team will be going up against some outstanding competition at the Bradley Classic," Drake head cross country coach Dan Hostager said. "We're looking forward to seeing how we stack up against many of our MVC rivals, as well as a lot of other top teams from the midwest."

Last Time Out: Fifth-year senior Kirsten Lake (Parker, Colo.) continued her outstanding 2012 campaign running a team-best 22:13 to finish in 28th place on a 6-kilometer course at the Roy Griak Invitational (Sept. 29).

Lake was followed by a foursome of freshmen Bulldogs. Cassie Aerts (David City, Neb.), 23:55, Taylor Scholl (Prior Lake, Minn.), 23:59, Celeste Arteaga (Rock Island, Ill.), 24:33, and Emma Huston (Des Moines, Iowa), 24:34, rounded out the top five for Drake.

Juniors Amanda Marwitz (Grayslake Lake, Ill.) and Allie Heifner (Oregon, Wis.) ran times of 24:36 and 25:01 respectively.

"We had some great efforts at the Griak meet two weeks ago, but the team placing was indicative of some tired legs," Hostager said of his team's 16th place finish in a deep field. "With the great competition at Griak, it provided valuable experience for our young squad and will help us with our upcoming meets as well as future goals."

A Year Ago: A young Drake squad was led by freshman Mariel Fulton (Louisville, Colo.) who ran the Bradley Classic 6-kilometer course at the Newman Golf Course in 22:32.07 to finish in 46th place. Lake followed close behind, crossing the line in 22:26.74 in 59th-place.