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Track heads to MVC indoor championships following the EIU Friday Night Special

The Braves had one final meet before the Missouri Valley Conference Championships, and they took full advantage of it. The track and field team’s trip to Eastern Illinois was successful last weekend at the Friday Night Special.

“The main purpose of this meet was just tuning everyone up and getting ready for conference,” head coach Darren Gauson said. “A few other people had good performances, and that put them in position to compete at the conference championship.”

The men’s team was able to win three of the five total events over the weekend. The Braves had the top four finishers in the 3,000-meters with junior Daniel Gagne and freshman Will Anderson finishing first and second respectively. Gagne finished with an impressive 8:28.73 time and Anderson finished at 8:36.75.

Along with the 3,000-meters, sophomore Taylor Floyd Mews won the men’s mile with a career best 4:16.41, while freshman David Shadid took home the top spot for the men’s 600-meter with a time of 1:24.13

The women’s team was able to win two individual events on Friday and is looking to carry that into next weekend’s MVC Championships.

Sophomore Nicole Alfano won the women’s 5,000-meter with a time of 18:48.59, running that distance for the first time in her career. Following Alfano, junior Mackenzie Griffin ran a career-best time in the women’s 3,000-meter of 10:22.86 to win the event.

“It just prepares us as we can build off of last weekend,” Griffin said. “Some people didn’t race and others had workouts, so that just prepares us for better things to come this weekend.”

According to Gauson, Bradley looks to continue their momentum and improve off last year’s performance at the MVC Championships, where the men’s team finished in 8th place and the women’s team finished in 7th.

“We’re just trying to sharpen up a little bit,” Gauson said. “The aim on the men’s team is for us to finish 6th and then on the women’s side, we would like to finish 7th.”

Gauson believes this team has the chance to win five individual championships, as well.
“We’re in a good position to win the women’s 3K, the women’s 5K, the men’s 5K and the men’s mile or 3K, and hopefully one of the [distance medley relay],” Gauson said.

The Missouri Valley Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held Saturday, Feb. 27, and Sunday, Feb. 28, in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

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