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Men’s and Women’s track preps for MVC conference meets

The men’s and women’s track and field teams were split in two last week as both competed in the Drake and Penn Relays in Des Moines, Iowa and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, respectively.

At the Drake Relays, junior Emily Delvo set Bradley history as she broke the 800 meter record for the Braves by almost a full second, clocking in at 2:08.46 and finishing third overall.

“Her training has been going remarkably well,” head coach Willy Wood said. “She was ready to run this race for a long time, and I think she just had to get in the right race with the right weather conditions. It was a big breakthrough for her without a doubt and she’s very excited, but I think we both knew she was going to do [well].”

Senior Kyela Specht also broke the Bradley record in the same event, finishing in seventh place with a time of 2:09.11, two seconds better than her previous best.

The men at the Drake Relays also found their way into the Bradley record books. The 4×1,600 meter team of freshmen Haran Dunderdale and Michael Ward and sophomores Mike Bianchina and Daniel Gagne ran the event in 16:42.98, a record which hasn’t been broken since 1988. They finished ninth in the event.

“They do everything together,” Wood said. “They train together every day, they’re a very close group of guys. Now they’ve had a long block of time where they’ve stayed healthy, they’ve had uninterrupted training, and they’re just getting really fit.”

At the Penn Relays, the story of the day was made by junior Kristen Busch; who ran the 5,000 meter race for the first time this season and ran it five seconds faster than she ever ran before at 16:33.64. Busch finished 14th in the race, while her twin sister, Caitlin, ran it in 16:40.43 and finished 18th.

“[Kristen] is extremely talented and works very hard,” Wood said. “She’s so committed and dedicated to being good…Again, she’s somebody else we keep expecting to improve every week.”

Wood said he believes the team has done everything they physically can at this point in the season. Their focus will now be on remaining mentally strong.

“Now, I think it’s more about focusing on the approach that we take,” Wood said. “I think we’re making great strides in terms of a certain confidence and calmness that almost everyone on the team possesses now.”

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