The Bradley men’s and women’s track teams competed at the 19th annual Musco Twilight Invitational hosted by the University of Iowa on April 12. The Braves secured record-breaking performances, in addition to multiple top-10 finishes.
Redshirt freshman Alec Hartman and sophomore Jake Hoffert highlighted the meet with second-place finishes that broke previous school records.
Hartman finished second in the men’s 800-meter run with a time of 1:50.75, surpassing a 26-year-old record formerly held by Dave Dundas. The redshirt freshman secured first in the Missouri Valley Conference rankings with his time in the 800.
Hartman said while his performance was good, he and his team must improve before heading into the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azuza, California.
“[The team and I] went out to Iowa and ran well,” Hartman said. “I’m looking forward to the upcoming meets and improvements that can be made. I thought my individual performance was all right, but I believe I have room to improve.”
Bradley Head Coach Darren Gauson also said Hartman’s run was impressive but needs to be slightly faster in order to qualify for the NCAA regionals.
“I thought [Hartman] ran really well,” Gauson said. “That’s always huge for us, when the team is trying to go out there and compete. We just need him to go a little bit quicker, so we can qualify for the NCAA regionals. If he can go quicker at California, he’ll be set.”
Hoffert also finished in second place in his respective 3,000-meter run, with a time of 8:29.60. As a result, he set a new record, which was originally set by Chase Coffey (8:29.66) in 2014.
Senior Taylor Floyd Mews won the 1,500-meter run with a career-best time of 3:47.02. While beating his 2017 personal best of 3:49.61, Floyd Mews obtained the second-fastest time in the MVC this season and the third-fastest time in Bradley history in the 1,500.
Junior Haran Dunderdale notably finished fourth with a time of 3:53.97 in the 1,500. Additionally, junior Niamh Markham placed second in the women’s 800 with a time of 2:09.94, putting herself at fourth-best in Bradley history. Markham currently holds onto third in the Valley.
Redshirt freshman McKenzie Altmayer also finished with a fourth-best time at Bradley in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with a second-place run of 11:11.78.
Junior Kathryn Adelman and sophomore Emma Makowski both finished with season-best times in the women’s 800, with runs of 2:14.08 and 2:16.20, respectively. Nine other women in the Bradley track and field team finished in the top 10 at the Musco Twilight.
Gauson said the women prepared and competed well for Iowa and plan to do so at the meets to come in California.
“We’ve trained pretty hard [lately],” Gauson said. “We played fairly hard through the Iowa meet as well, so we’re easing back as we prepare for California. The team will be more rested and ready to go.”
The Braves will be heading to compete in the Bryan Clay Invitational and Mt. SAC Relays in California on Thursday. Bradley will be looking to qualify for the NCAA Midwest Regionals.
