The finish line seemed a lot closer than ever before at the Cyclone Open for Bradley’s women’s track team.
The Braves scored two victories and 11 top-10 finishes on Iowa State’s track, but most importantly, 11 personal best times.
“We are setting up for a very good outdoor season,” coach Dave Beauchem said. “This past weekend was another step forward, but we have a lot of work still to do.”
Bradley started off on the right foot with a win in the distance medley relay. Juniors Mary Goldkamp, Lauren Fog and Leann Murphy and sophomore Michelle Hartmann finished the relay race in 12 minutes and 14 seconds, 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the competition.
After the relay, the Braves turned to the individual races. Goldkamp continued her winning ways with a first-place finish in the 1,000-meter race. Goldkamp was followed by freshman Nicole Benson and senior Katie Nowak, who finished second and third respectively, in the 1,000.
“This weekend was good for us,” Beauchem said. “Iowa State is a great facility. Where we are right now is not a surprise to us.”
Sophomore high jumper Lyndsey Cleghorn took third after clearing a height of one and a half meters.
The last Brave to finish in the top-3 was Benson in the mile. She finished just shy of breaking 5 minutes at 5 minutes and 1 second.
Rounding out the action for the Braves was the 4-by-400 meter relay team of Murphy, Goldkamp, Benson and Hartmann, who finished in sixth.
“Right now we are focusing more and more on our strength work,” Beauchem said. “We can’t do the speed work yet. But we are preparing for that to come in as the weather improves.”