KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan cross country team is set to conclude its regular season with a trip to the Bradley Pink Classic on Friday afternoon.

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos were able to take 10th place at the Joe Piane Invitational a couple of weeks ago in South Bend, Ind. Danielle Rinn paced the Broncos by finishing in the top 10 for the second consecutive race. Kayla Schiera also returned for the Broncos and claimed 29th with a time of 18:02.8. 

LAST YEAR'S EVENT
Western Michigan finished 24th at last year's Bradley Pink Classic, with Kayla Schiera grabbing 22nd place with a time of 20:50.4. The top-10 teams were Northwestern, Illinois, Bradley, Grand Valley State, Augustana, North Dakota State, Loyola, Miami, Cincinnati and South Dakota State. 

RINN'S GREAT START
Head coach Kevin Cataldo dipped into the transfer portal to snag former Oklahoma distance runner Danielle Rinn, and it has paid off in a big way. Rinn has raced twice so far for the Brown and Gold, finishing top 10 at the Mel Brodt Collegiate Open and Joe Piane Invitational. She'll have a chance to extend her streak this week at the Bradley Pink Classic. 

SCHIERA'S RETURN
After missing the firsrt part of the season, Kayla Schiera returned for WMU two weeks ago at the Joe Piane Invitational. In her first race of the season, she finished 29th. Schiera returned to WMU after earning All-MAC First Team honors a season ago and will be in important piece to the puzzle during the MAC Championships again this season. 

CATALDO NAMED HEAD COACH
After originally coming to Western Michigan as an assistant coach for the cross country and track and field program, Kevin Cataldo was selected as the head coach on May 10, 2023. Cataldo joined the Broncos as an assistant coach in March 2022, after serving in the same position at Southern Illinois for six seasons. He was then elevated to interim head coach in August of 2022. 

During his first year with the program, the cross country team finished fifth at the MAC Championships. It was the first time in program history that the program had two first team all-MAC performers. Makayla Perez finished fifth and Kayla Schiera placed seventh at the conference meet. The program also tied the second highest finish in program history at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet (13th). Additionally it was the first time the squad had an All-Region athlete (Makayla Perez) since Hanne Christensen in 2017.

WHO'S RUNNING?
For the last regular season meet of the season, the Broncos will have Madison Clor, Delaney Knoll, Larissa McGrath, Chloe Nixon, Maggie Raab, Danielle Rinn, Lauren Sancrant, Kayla Schiera, Brooke Soper, Katelyn Spooner and Madison Zarembski on the course at the Bradley Pink Classic. 

UP NEXT
The Broncos will gear up for the MAC Championships, which are set to take place on Oct. 28 in Bowling Green, Ohio.