The Bradley track and field teams wrapped up their indoor season last weekend at the Missouri Valley Conference championship in Northern Iowa.
Although the teams finished near the bottom of the field, there are signs of progress. The seventh place finish with 47 points for the women was a school record and the eighth place finish with 24 points for the men was the most amount of points since 1982.
“The way our program is structured, we only participated in five of the 20 events,” head coach Willy Wood said. “It makes team goals very challenging. But I’m very pleased with how we competed individually.”
Junior Busch twins ran the table in the women’s 5,000 meter, finishing first and second. Caitlin Busch took first at 16:47.40 and Kristin Busch followed her in second at 16:47.97. In the 3,000 meter, Kristin ran a personal-best time of 9:37.62 to grab third place, and Caitlin finished ten seconds later in fourth.
Senior Emily Delvo was another bright spot for the Braves. She placed second in the mile-run with a career-best time of 4:54.74, the fourth-best time in school history. In the 800 meter, an event that Delvo won last year, she took third with a time of 2:11.99. This is Delvo’s fifth all-conference honor of her career.
Freshman Michael Ward led the charge for the men’s team. Ward came three seconds away from grabbing a championship in his first ever conference championship tournament, but ultimately finished in second at 8:17.66 behind All-American John Mascari from Indiana State.
Ward, along with sophomore Daniel Gagne, freshman Haran Dunderdale, and junior Thomas Razo, ran in the distance medley as a group that grabbed the top spot with a time of 10:04.09 for Bradley’s first ever victory in this event. Sophomore Mike Bianchina finished sixth in the mile at career-best 4:17.16.
“Overall, I thought it was a successful indoor season,” Wood said. “We’ve been creating intensity and they’re handling it very well, and as a result I think it’s going to propel them to greater heights for the outdoor season.”
Bradley’s men and women’s indoor season begins March 27 and 28 in Nashville, Tennessee.
“We’ll give them a few days to take a little break and then we’ll start back up and train hard for the next three weeks to prepare for the new season,” Wood said.
