Oct. 16, 2009

PEORIA, Ill. - Kayla Brown closed out an outstanding cross country career Friday as the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville senior placed fourth in a field of 180 runners at the Bradley Classic.

Brown was edged out at the finish line for third place by Indiana State's Allison Malone. Brown's 6,000-meter time was 21 minutes, 47 seconds, which is the second fastest time in school history. The record is held by Breanne Steffens at the NCAA Regional Championships in 2003.

Brown was able to defeat Bradley's Nicole Benson by six seconds. Benson denied Brown the individual title last weekend at SIUE's Border Wars event.

Caitlin Comfort, of Wisconsin, was the individual winner in 21:10.

As a team, SIUE placed 16th overall with 408 points. The Cougars edged Illinois State's B team, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Valparaiso in the 19-team field. Wisconsin edged out Bradley 76-97 for the team title.

Other SIUE finishers were Aftan Noon (23:10), Heather Hackel (25:15), Rachel Roustio (25:54), Jamie Nagel (26:03), and Elisha Crawley (26:55).

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