PEORIA, Ill. - The IUPUI men's cross country team used a balanced effort to capture the Bradley 'Pink' Classic title on Friday (Oct. 13), edging second-place Illinois by three points to top the 29-team field. Graduate transfer Andrew Whitinger led the way with a personal best time of 24:32.0, slashing 12 seconds off his prior best in a seventh-place finish. Nate Kaiser, who led the race near the midpoint, finished ninth overall in a time 24:36.8. 

Whitinger's time was the ninth-best in IUPUI history while Kaiser's time was the second-best of his career and 12th-best in school history at the 8K distance. 

"I was really happy with the team and my personal race day. Because of the conditions, we knew today could be a tough one, but we went out determined and ready to race," Whitinger said. "Everyone stepped up and did their part to secure the team win. 

"With this momentum, we're really excited to move into the postseason and prove ourselves in the conference and region."

Head coach Justin Roeder's team combined the two low men with a balanced attack to move to the top of the heap. 

Grant Moon spun a time of 24:55.2 to place 31st overall and Nick Perkins was 33rd at 24:57.9. Mitchell Rans spun a time of 25:02.9 to place 38th and cap the Jaguars' scoring five. Matt Mitsch shed 33 seconds off his previous best time in a 25:21.3 effort and Mitchell Gits crossed at 25:30.1 in 83rd-place. However, all were key to the win as Illinois' No. 5 runner placed 88th overall, after IUPUI's full seven had crossed, causing two points of displacement. 

Will Clark ran a time of 25:53.7 and redshirt freshman Deion Guise came in at 26:38.7. Illinois' Jack Roberts ran a winning time of 24:08.40, finishing six seconds ahead of Illinois State's Mathis Chavand. 

Earlier in the day, Jack Acton collected a win among 178 total runners in the White Race, clocking a personal best time of 25:11.1 to win by more than five seconds. His time was 10 seconds better than his previous best as he moved up late and ultimately led the final 1,000 meters en route to the victory. Wilson Whicker clocked a personal best time of 25:45.6 to place 11th overall and Nolan King spun a personal best time of 26:48.6. 

A select group of Jaguars will compete at Butler's Stan Lyons Invitational at Northview Church in Carmel on Friday, Oct. 20. The remainder of the squad will begin preparations for the Horizon League Championships, to be held at Fairborn Community Park in Fairborn, Ohio, on Saturday, Oct. 28.