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Braves set multiple personal bests at Larry Wieczorek Invitational

Jack Crull is incredulous as he crosses the finish line at the MVC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Feb. 25 and 26 in Chicago. Photo courtesy of Bradley Athletics.

Bradley track and field finished their trifecta of meets in Iowa City as they took on the challenge of the Larry Wieczorek Invitational.

In their third year in a row competing at this meet, the Braves provided a performance to be proud of early in the season. Across two days of competition, Bradley set 23 season and personal best records, with nine being etched into the Bradley track and field record book.

On the men’s side, freshman Isaac Lind competed in his first 600-meter race as a Brave and took home first place with a time of 1:23.96. In the men’s 3000m, junior Ian O’Laughlin finished in 8:29.38 to earn fifth, while junior Brandon Kamp finished two spots behind in seventh, with just a 5.95-second difference separating the two.

However, the men’s main event was the premier mile race. Five Bradley competitors finished in the top 10, including fifth-year senior Jack Crull, who was the gold standard. Crull finished first with a time of 4:01.38. Sophomore Jayde Rosslee was close behind in third, finishing the race in 4:06.80. Freshman Jamie Phillips, junior Caleb Lind and freshman Travis Gaffney also finished in fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively.

“As a whole, I think we did a really good job with a lot of PRs across the board,” Crull said. “A lot of people were pretty happy with their performances, and it was a pretty positive turnout.”

Freshman Skyler Balzer took first in the unseeded 3000m on the women’s side, crossing the finish line in 10:03.57. Senior Amiyah Davis took third in the women’s 400m race, finishing with an impressive time of 57.15. In the unseeded mile run, with a time of 5:13.52, redshirt junior Julia de La Piedra Sitjas finished in third, alongside freshman Edel McCreery finishing in sixth after just under five minutes and 23 seconds.

The premier mile race also turned out to be the Bradley women’s bread and butter, with seven runners finishing in the top ten. That includes junior Kaitlyn Sheppard taking second with a time of 4:43.22, along with the third, fourth, fifth and sixth spots being held by graduate senior Abigail Hancock, junior Trixie Wraith, sophomore Ciara Thornley and junior Nadia Potgieter, respectively. The eighth and tenth place also belonged to Bradley, with junior Anna Perry and freshman Eimear McCarroll finishing 0.56 seconds apart.

“It was good to race with the team, and it pushed us to do well in that meet because we know where we’re at in training, so we were able to help each other work together,” Sheppard said.

Three meets into the season, the performances shown by these athletes have impressed head coach Andrew Carlson. 

“If I want this team to be known for something, it’s that we’re ready at the right time,” Carlson said. “We came into this meet tired and working through [a lot], and to have that many people run well, from the sprints to the distance, I couldn’t be happier.”

Since it is early in the season, the runners like to emphasize the importance of starting out strong.

“It gives a lot of confidence for the rest of the season, so just racing really well at the beginning of the season is always a great confidence booster,” Sheppard said. “Because now, going into other meets, I immediately just feel a lot more relaxed and confident knowing that I ran that time in the mile.”

The Braves next hit the track this weekend in South Bend, Ind., where they will be competing in the Meyo Invitational.

 “I told the team, ‘You practice swimming in the shallow end, but you learn to swim in deep waters,’” Carlson said. “When we get an opportunity to go compete and put ourselves up against great teams is when we really learn how to do this at a high level.”

“[Practice] will be very similar to what we just did this weekend,” Crull added. “There’ll be more competition this weekend, so it’ll be closer between a lot of other people. But I think the goal is just to try and feel a little bit more comfortable than I was last week, and hopefully I can feel good enough to have a good close at the end.”

After regularly competing at the Meyo Invitational since 2022, Bradley will hope to create another set of outstanding performances up North.

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