DeKALB — NIU cross country’s meet Friday at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria ended with the Huskies finishing 29th out of 37 teams with six runners finishing in the top 200 out of 286 finalists. 

Coming into the Bradley Pink Classic, the Huskies finished 21st in their previous meet at the Joe Piane Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame. The Bradley Pink Classic is the Huskies fourth meet of the season and final one before they compete in the Mid-American Conference Championship on Oct. 30. 

The top placed Huskie was junior Brooke Lyte, finishing 86th with a time of 22:24.0. Senior Sara Atkins finished 136th with a time of 22:51.1 and sophomore Juila Finegan placed 174th with a time of 23:08.7.

The Huskies had all members finish within the top 250 with an overall average time of 23:05 as a group.

Senior Hannah Ricci placed 181st with a time of 23:13.0 and freshman Joy Jackson would place 183rd with a time of 23:13.2. 

Junior Kaitlin Miller finished 200th with a time of 23:20.7 and sophomore Victoria Robinson finished 209th with a time of 23:28.7. 

Head coach Jamie Moreno spoke on what the group needs to do that will play into how the Huskies perform at the MAC championship meet in a couple of weeks. 

“They found each other about the middle of the race and were able to work together,” Moreno said in a Friday NIU Athletics news release. “But we have to get that group a little further up in the race, that is going to be key at the conference meet. We had a good meet not great. We are not running to our full potential yet, but we have that potential in a couple weeks at the conference meet.”

The Huskies next meet will be the MAC championship on Oct. 30 at Eagle Crest Country Club in Ypsilanti, Michigan.