The Bradley men’s and women’s track teams kicked off the outdoor season with three individual titles and many other top finishes at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic at Southern Illinois.
The Bradley men took home two titles, the first coming from redshirt freshman Alec Hartman in the 800 meter run winning with a time of 1:53.30. Hartman just edged sophomore teammate Scott Seymour for the victory.
Hartman credited his teammates for the help during the race.
“I had lot of help from my teammate [junior David Shadid]. He went out and paced the first 400 meters for me,” Hartman said. “I had [Seymour] come help me out in the last 400 meters. I just got him at the end.”
In addition to Hartman’s title, senior Taylor Floyd Mews won the 1,500 meter run in 3:52.10.
Head coach Darren Gauson said he is satisfied with where Floyd Mews is this early in the year.
“The time was only two seconds off of his [personal record], which is really good for an opening meet,” Gauson said.
For the women’s team, redshirt freshman McKenzie Altmayer won the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 11:28.30. Altmayer’s victory came in her first outdoor collegiate race and ranks as the fourth-best time in school history. Gauson said he was proud of her first win.
“After being redshirted indoors, it was good to see her get over the barriers well and pick up the win,” Gauson said.
Gauson said the meet at Southern Illinois served its purpose for an early season meet.
“A lot of it was just dealing with the cooler weather, rain and the wind,” Gauson said. “It is a little bit of a sharpener to prepare us for California because that is where we want to be putting up some of the top times in the conference.”
The busy weekend for the Braves track program was capped off by hosting their Junior Day on Sunday. Bradley had 18 prospective student-athletes, some from as far as Texas visiting campus. Gauson said visit weekends like that are important to continue recruiting the junior class.
“[2019] is a very pivotal year for us on the women’s side and the men’s side,” Gauson said. “We got a lot of talent to replace. We really got to work on it this summer and into the fall.”
16 runners on the team will travel to California for the San Francisco State Distance Carnival and the Stanford Invitational today. The rest of the team will make the trip to Eastern Illinois at the Big Blue Classic today and tomorrow.
