The Bradley men’s and women’s track teams were in Normal last weekend for a windy Redbird Invitational where the Braves captured a pair of titles in enemy territory.
Junior Daniel Gagne took home the title in the 800m run with a time of 1:54.38. Gagne said he sat back on the first lap and made a move on the second, and though he was happy with his performance, he will likely go back to running his usual 1,500m.
“I want to spend as much time as I can and focus on that,” Gagne said.
The second title for the Braves was claimed by junior Nyle Clinton in the 3,000m steeplechase. Clinton won his first collegiate race with a time of 9:25.27 and was followed by junior Nikolas Hess with a time of 9:27.14.
“They moved up to third and fourth in the conference rankings,” head coach Darren Gauson said. “Hopefully, they will get even stronger in the next few weeks.”
Sophomore sprinters David Shadid and Patrick Quinn both achieved two personal records. Shadid ran the 100m and 200m dashes with times of :11.13 and :22.10, respectively. Quinn finished the 200m dash with a time of :23.04 and the 400m dash in :51.46.
The Bradley women were led by senior Rachel Sudbury, finishing fourth in the 800m run with a time of 2:13.28. Sophomore Brooke Nusser finished just five thousandths of a second ahead of freshman Emma Makowski with a time of 2:16.01.
“Rachel did really well with 2:13,” Gauson said. “Emma and Brooke both had [personal record] performances.”
Bradley dominated the 1,500m run with four runners in the top nine. Freshman Gabby Jaurez finished fifth with a time of 4:39.71 followed by freshman Kirstin Oakley in sixth, freshman Abby Jockisch in eighth and junior Lauren Cunningham in ninth.
Gauson said he was pleased with the performance from the team despite the less than ideal weather.
“We have been a little bit unlucky in the Midwest,” Gauson said. “It has been either really cold or windy.”
Hoping for better weather, Gauson will take 17 athletes to California this week to participate in two different meets, the Mt. Sac Relays and the Bryan Clay Invitational. The Braves will look to run times that will qualify them for the NCAA Regionals at the end of the season.
“This is the one we circle on the calendar every year to compete well [at],” Gauson said. “Hopefully, no food poisoning for [junior Michael Ward] and our flight is on time this week.”
