The Bradley men’s and women’s cross country teams had strong performances last week. The women won their home meet, the Bradley Pink Classic, for the first time in school history, while the men competed at the nationally revered Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin.
In Peoria, the women won with a combined score of 67, which was 36 places better than runner-up South Dakota. Having anticipated a preview of the conference meet with Loyola’s top runners, head coach Darren Gauson was informed that Loyola would be sending their “B” team runners, while the top ladies went to Terre Haute, Indiana for the Pre-National Meet at Indiana State.
Their mentality stayed the same; win as dominantly as possible. Junior McKenzie Altmayer placed second in the race, with sophomore Tyler Schwartz only six seconds behind, in third. The Braves placed three runners in the top 10, with sophomore Ayah Aldadah finishing sixth overall.
“We wanted to pack up and try to put all of us in the best situation,” Schwartz said. “We were happy with the way we performed and we have confidence looking towards the conference meet.”
Schwartz ran a massive personal best of 21:09.3 for the 6-kilometer distance, despite feeling more tired than normal in the final kilometer.
She has ambitions to place top 15 in the region and, the top three, in conference.
“The whole women’s team is in a really good spot,” Gauson said. “McKenzie, Tyler and Ayah have established themselves both on our team and in the conference. Just give us the 12 days until the conference meet and I think we can the fourth, fifth and sixth runners up to their level and make some noise.”
In Madison, the men were paced by senior Jake Hoffert and redshirt-freshman Matt Richtman. Hoffert covered the 8-kilometer course in 24:22.1, good for 59th overall in a field of 245 starters featuring some of the nation’s best. Richtman ran 24:56.5, breaking the 25-minute barrier for the first time in his career.
“I’m happy with how I ran,” Richtman said. “I certainly think I can improve this season and we will be ready to go for the conference meet.”
Gauson echoed Richtman’s positivity for the men’s team.
“Everyone is in a really good spot right now,” Gauson said. “I think Richtman is getting closer to be on Jake [Hoffert]’s level. His class, too, with guys like Drew Wenger, Matt Aho and Jack Becker are all in really good places and I’m looking forward for that group’s progress.”
The Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship will be held Saturday, Nov. 2 in Valparaiso, Indiana.
Every Bradley cross country student-athlete not running in the conference meet will race today at 4:30 p.m. in the Leatherneck Open at Western Illinois University. For those runners, the meet will mark the end of the cross country season.
After that, all eyes, and legs, turn to the MVC Championship, where both Braves teams will look to defend their conference titles.
