The ISU womens cross country team finally hit its stride at the Bradley Classic on Friday with the Redbirds picking up their first team title of the 2012 season.

Rachael Brewers time of 20:44 in the 6,000-meter race, good for second place, is the fastest all-time in ISU history and crushed her previous best time by 53 seconds.

Brewer is really starting to learn how to race and run up front, ISU head coach Jeff Bovee said. She has a fast learning [curve] and is soaking up everything from one race to the next.

Senior Elise Sigg placed seventh with a time of 21:27, while sophomore Kelly McShea finished in 12th place with a new personal-best time of 21:36. Kim Christensen crossed the finish line fourth for the Redbirds with a personal-best time of 21:58. Sarah Castel finished the scoring for ISU with a personal-best time of 22:13.

This was their best race of the season, Bovee said. They responded well from a set-back two weeks ago at the Griak Invitational and rose to the challenge. They ran a great team race The team built some great momentum headed into the Valley Championships in two weeks.

ISUs 102 points that earned them first place was 12 less than runner-up St. Louis.

On the mens side of the meet, the team placed 12th overall in the 8,000-meter distance with 296 points. Southern Illinois took the title with 54 points.

Daily Vidette Archive Photo: Rachael Brewer placed second at the Bradley Classic to help the ISU womens cross country team capture its first team title of the season. Brewers time of 20:44 is a new ISU record for a 6,000-meter race.

Sophomore Ryan Rutherford was ISUs top finisher, completing the race with a time of 24:27, the second fastest of his career, to finish in 12th place.

Ryan gave the team a big boost with his solid performance after taking the last few weeks off, Bovee said.

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’Birds find success at Bradley