After a strong showing at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships, the Valparaiso University men’s and women’s cross country teams will head to Madison, Wis. to compete in Friday’s NCAA Great Lakes Regional.

Alexander Bruno (Bloomington, Ill./ University) will try to add another achievement to a storied career, as the fifth-year senior competes in his final regional race for the Brown and Gold. Bruno ran last year’s 10K course in 31:54.4—good enough to take Valpo’s all-time record from Aaron Crague, who had held the top spot since 2001.

Bruno, who also owns Valpo’s best-ever 8K (24:23, set at 2018 MVC Championship), is coming off a quality run at the MVC Championships, which Valpo hosted on Oct. 27. On a cold and wet day, Bruno fought for an eighth-place finish after running the 8K course in 25:17.8. After finishing 36^th out of 204 runners at the 2018 regional meet, Bruno will look to become the first Valpo male runner to earn all-region recognition by placing in the Top 25 of the event.

Led by Bruno’s all-conference finish, the Valpo men secured their first Top-5 finish in a conference meet since 2007. The Valpo women were paced by Alaina Carpenter (Grandville, Mich. / Grandville) at the MVC meet.

The teams competing in NCAA Regionals will look to gain entry into the NCAA Division-I Cross Country Championships, scheduled for Nov. 23 in Terre Haute. The top two teams at Friday’s meet will earn an automatic bid to the national race, and several at-large team bids are also handed out. Additionally, among individuals not selected as members of qualifying teams, the top four finishers at the race are automatically selected to compete in the national meet.

Friday’s women’s race will begin at 11:30 a.m. CT with links to live results and video via FloTrack available on ValpoAthletics.com. The men’s race is scheduled to commence at 12:30 p.m. CT.