among all Bradley men. Photo via bradleybraves.com.
Though the cross country team’s opening weekend was not a great barometer for future success, head coach Darren Gauson said he was still pleased with the results of the Hawkeye Early Bird meet in Iowa City at the University of Iowa.
Gauson said he rested the top nine runners for the men and the top seven runners for the women. The “developmental” runners who competed delivered quality performances, as many are vying to race with the top runners.
“[The developmental group] will be running more in the earlier season meets,” Gauson said. “For the younger group, it will be difficult for them to race later in the year because only the top seven run, so their season ends a lot earlier.”
Junior Haran Dunderdale and sophomore Sara Piller were the standouts from the developmental group. Dunderdale led all Bradley men with a 6K time of 18:41.6 to finish 17th overall, while Piller ran her 3K in 10:48.3, putting her in 27th place overall.
As a team, the men finished ninth out of nine teams, while the women placed sixth out of eight.
“We had some very solid performances,” Gauson said. “Haran Dunderdale I thought ran very well. [Freshman] Rachel Iacofano, in her first meet, was solid along with Rachel Piller. They competed well and did well on that course. For running a younger team, we were still able to beat a couple teams, so it was good.”
Gauson said he hopes the top runners from the Hawkeye Early Bird meet will be able to contribute with the top runners later on in the season.
The developmental group will run with the top runners next week when the team hosts the Bradley Intercollegiate meet. Gauson said it will be a great opportunity to see them compete for the first time this season.
“This will be the first big task for them mentally and physically to see how people compete,” Gauson said. “Practices are one thing, but going out there and competing is a little bit different. You see different things from different people. We want to make sure we’re going to select the best nine from the women and the men who can compete up at Notre Dame.”
Moving forward, the men and the women are facing two different sets of pressures considering the makeup of the rosters. The women are much less experienced, while the men have every starter returning.
However, the expectations for both sides are high. The women and men were both favorably ranked in the Missouri Valley Conference entering the season.
“For the women, we’re still planning on winning,” Gauson said. “From losing almost our whole team to now being ranked number two in the conference, I think people saw our recruits and saw how our developmental group ran during the track season improved it.”
The men qualified for the NCAA meet last year and expect to get back there this season.
“On the men’s side, we return everyone, and we have a very very good recruiting class coming in,” Guason said. “We have a whole different set of pressures and expectations. I think they’re handling [the pressure] well. We have a ton of camaraderie, and people want their teammates to do well.”
The Braves will not compete this weekend, as they prepare for their meet next weekend at Detweiller Park for the Bradley Intercollegiate.
