The Missouri Valley Conference indoor track championship was held at the UNI-Dome, and the men placed seventh while the women finished ninth as a team. As is customary with head coach Darren Gauson’s distance-oriented program, several individuals highlighted the success.
The 5,000-meter run was the best race of the weekend for the Braves program. Senior brothers Jake and Luke Hoffert finished second and fourth overall, posting a time of 14:28.91 and 14:31.09, respectively. The duo was followed by redshirt-freshman Matthew Richtman and sophomore Jack Franklin at sixth and seventh with times of 14:49.57 and 14:55.14.
The Braves had four of the eight scorers in the championship race making them one of two schools to accomplish the feat across all running events.
Franklin and Richtman also ran in the 3000-meter race posting times of 8:34.83 and 8:34.87 to finish fourth and fifth. Sophomore Joey Simon finished eighth in 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.29. Simon also scored on a fourth-place finish in the distance medley relay along with senior Ben Potrykus, senior Scott Seymour and sophomore Alec Danner.
Jake and Luke Hoffert did not run the 3,000-meter run due to a coaching decision. Jake has been recovering from a foot injury throughout the indoor season and Gauson has been managing his senior runner throughout the indoor season in preparation for the outdoor season. Luke has dealt with many injuries through his collegiate career.
“Really were getting ready for the 10,000 [at the outdoor championship] for Jake,” Gauson said. “Last year we were trying score as many points as we could [indoor], this year it was not quite our goal.”
“Obviously it is not as bad as when I was in crutches [in December],” Jake Hoffert said. “I think the best decisions to make with this foot have been made.”
Jake Hoffert stated his determination on making the most of his last months running for Bradley, although he is not yet 100 percent. Following his injury, he was focused on giving it everything in the final stretch of his Bradley career to not have any regrets in the end.
“Honestly, I’m just trying to make the most of every race,” Hoffert said. “Whether I have a bad one or a good one, during that race no matter how I feel, I want to make it fun.”
Junior McKenzie Altmayer was the top single event performer for the Braves on the women’s side. The junior finished fourth in 3,000-meter run posting a final time of 9:57.37.
Sophomore Hannah Ivy finished eighth in the 400-meter dash, posting the second-lowest time in school history and beating her personal record with a 57.36. This made her the first sprinter to score for Bradley in 28 years.
“I was a big fan of Hannah Ivy, she had four opportunities and was great in all four,” Gauson said.
Ivy also helped the Braves to an eighth-place finish in the 4×400 meter relay along with sophomore Laura Stuart, junior Soren Umali and sophomore Amelia Lesher.
Altmayer, Ivy and Lesher also propelled Bradley to a fourth-place finish in the distance medley relay along with sophomore Emma Planck. The women won the event last season.
“I think we did as expected, we are really a pretty young team,” Altmayer said. “We went into thinking ‘Let’s get [the younger girls] experience and post as many points as we can and do as well as we can.’”
After using the indoor season as a stepping stone, the Braves will now look forward to the outdoor season. This year the team made a conscious effort to focus more on the outdoor season. Winning will be the expectation, according to Gauson.
“I expect us to [be] conference champions outdoors, to have NCAA first-round qualifiers and for us to score more points outdoors,” Gauson said.
The Braves will have two weeks off from competition before the start of the outdoor season on March 21, at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic at Southern Illinois. The Braves outdoors season will be highlighted by runs at the Raleigh Relays March 28-29, Bryan Clay Invitational and Mt. Sac Relays April 16-17.
