PEORIA, Ill. – Wichita State cross country returns to competition for the first time in three weeks to race at the Bradley Pink Classic Friday afternoon at Newman Golf Course.
 
The Shockers will have a few runners in each of the White/Open Division races starting at 1:30 p.m. before their top nine will race in the Red/Invite Division Races beginning at 3:00 p.m. Races will be live streamed on ESPN+ with live results available at shazamracing.com.
 
The 24^th Annual Bradley Pink Classic features athletes from 54 different teams, including nine regionally-ranked programs: Notre Dame (Men No. 1, Women No. 1, Great Lakes), Michigan (Men No. 3, Women No. 5, Great Lakes), Butler (Men No. 4 Great Lakes), Loyola-Chicago (Men  No. 3, Midwest), Missouri (Men No. 4, Midwest), Northwestern (Women No. 3, Midwest) and Tulsa (Women No. 5, Midwest).
 
The Bradley Pink Classic is run on the Newman Golf Course, the same course on which the Shockers will race against the rest of the Midwest Region at the NCAA Midwest Regionals on Nov. 15.
 
"Having a chance to run on the regional course to get familiar with it can be enough to give an athlete an edge when trying to qualify for nationals or to have the best regional meet they could have," head coach Kirk Hunter said.  "So it's great to have the opportunity to come here and race."
 
Last time out, the Shockers raced in Columbia, Mo. at the Gans Creek Classic, where the men placed 19^th out of 37 teams, and the women finished 20^th out of 38 teams. The performance was not enough to keep the Shocker men in the top 15 of the USTFCCCA Midwest Region, so they'll need a strong showing to move back up into the rankings.
 
"On both sides, we're looking for significant improvement," Hunter said. "We're so young and with only a couple meets under their belt, there haven't been many opportunities to run fast and gain confidence, so getting a chance to be on a course that produces fast times and hopefully placing well within that race will give them a confidence boost, which is always good to have going into a conference championship."
 
Last year at the Bradley Pink Classic, the Wichita State men placed third as a team and the women took fifth, led by Miranda Dick, who finished 17^th individually.
 
This is the Shockers' final race before hosting the American Athletic Conference Championships on Nov. 15.