The Bradley men’s and women’s cross-country teams wasted no time getting off to a hot start in their 2018 campaign.
Both teams traveled to the Western Illinois Early Bird Invitational on Aug. 21. The men won the team title by over 30 points, with sophomore Alec Hartman taking the individual crown, in addition to seven other top 10 finishes. The women came out with a strong showing as well, with six top 10 finishes, but lost the tiebreaker to Western, to finish in second place.
“It’s all about momentum,” Hartman said. “A good opener is a really solid place to move up from. I just hope I can keep building off that. It’s a long season and I think this bodes well for the future.”
Hartman’s six kilometer time of 18:50 was good enough to win the race by two seconds. He was followed by sophomore Kerry Gschwendtner’s third place finish with a time of 19:03. Freshman Ben Wagoner and Evan Mitchell impressed in their college debuts, finishing in fourth and fifth, with times of 19:32, and 19:34, respectively.
On the women’s side, senior Kathryn Adelman claimed the top time for Bradley, finishing in fourth with a four kilometer time of 15:09. Adelman was closely followed by sophomores Ally Lampert, who finished fifth with a time of 15:15, and Arsinoe Del Real, who came in sixth with a time of 15:16. Freshman Amelia Lesher (15:23, ninth place), senior Morgan Lain (15:25, 10th place) and junior Rachel Iacofano (15:58, 14th place) rounded out the performance for the Braves.
According to head coach Darren Gauson, the team held out around 14 of their best runners on the men’s side and around 12 on the women’s side.
“We’re really deep one through 26 on our team,” Gauson said. “It just shows you really how good our program is. That’s what we’ve been trying to build for a number of years here.”
The teams will not have a meet this weekend, but are back in action Sept. 14, as they host the Bradley Intercollegiate. The race will be held at Peoria’s Detweiller Park with the women’s race starting at 5 p.m. and the men’s starting at 5:45 p.m.
“Our program is in a great place right now, ranked fifth in the region ahead of a lot of power five schools; ranked number one in the conference on both sides,” Gauson said. “We just have to stay healthy and keep advancing and keep taking care of the little things. Once we get the whole group out there a week from Friday, we’re gonna be in a good place.”
