Marquette’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams competed in Peoria, Ill., on Friday afternoon at the Bradley Classic and finished second and fifth, respectively. Marquette’s men’s team was listed as third on the meet’s results page, but Illinois was an unattached team and was running athletes without eligibility.

Coach Mike Nelson and the men’s team were hoping to rebound after a disappointing finish at the Greater Louisville Classic, and they did that with a pack time of 25:03, which was about a 40-second improvement from their last race.

Senior Jack Hackett was the top men’s finisher for the first time all season, as he ran 24:24 to finish fifth overall. The run was an eight-second improvement on his personal best. Senior Connor Callahan ran 25:28 in Louisville and shaved off 33 seconds to run 24:55 and finish 14th overall.

Seniors Patrick Maag and Jack Senefeld ran their best times all season as they continued to improve after injuries. Maag and Senefeld were the men’s third and fourth finishers, with freshmen Cody Haberkorn and William Hennessy right behind them.

Three freshmen ran their first 6,000-meter race on the women’s side and contributed to the fifth place finish. Molly Hanson is three-for-three for coming in first place in the last three meets on the women’s side. She completed her first 6,000-meter race in 21:34, and she appears ready to lead at the Big East cross-country championship.

The conference championship will take place Oct. 26 at Van Cortlandt Park in New York. The men head to New York unranked in the latest U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s regional ranking for the Great Lakes region, while the women stay in 12th place for the second week in a row.