Valparaiso University cross country junior Karson Hollander (Crystal Lake, Ill. / Crystal Lake) continued a strong season with another top-10 finish, while the Valpo women were once again led by freshman Samantha Rowley (Barrington, Ill. / Barrington) as she cracked the program's all-time record book at Friday's Bradley Pink Classic at Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Ill.
 
How It Happened

• Hollander improved his personal best in the 8k, stopping the clock in 24:19.76, bettering his own time that already ranked second in the program record book. He finished ninth of 191 with Green Bay's Noah Jahnke winning the race in 23:30.35.
• Senior Joseph Scheele (Mahomet, Ill. / Mahomet-Seymour) also had a top-30 finish, crossing the line in 24:44.35, his season best.
• Third on the team was redshirt junior Alex Valerio (Rockford, Ill. / Boylan Catholic), whose time of 25:27.08 was a season best and put him 76^th in the field.
• In the women's 6k, the first Beacon to cross the finish line was Rowley, who placed 75^th in 21:57.13. She improved her 6k time from Western Michigan's race (22:48.1) and moved into the program record book in the 6k. Rowley is now the sixth-fastest Valpo woman to ever run a 6k.
• Redshirt sophomore Laetitia Raoult (Guingamp, France / [Florida International]) was second on the team, finishing inside the top 100 at 22:14.95. She improved her time of 22:51.0 from earlier in the season at Western Michigan.
• Sophomore Kensington Black (Franklin, Ohio / Franklin Senior) was the first runner outside the top 100 in the large, 205-athlete field. She finished in 22:19.62 in her first 6k of the season.
• As a team, the women beat Marquette, Western Illinois, Northern Illinois and Chicago State, while the men finished 10^th of 21, beating Wright State, Green Bay, DePaul, North Dakota, Marquette, Xavier, UNI, Eastern Illinois, Purdue Fort Wayne, Milwaukee and Chicago State.   

Up Next
The Beacons will compete in the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Championship hosted by Evansville on Friday, Oct. 31.