EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Chase Coffey won the 3,000-Meter Steeplechase and Shane Garland won the 1,500-Meter Run, leading the Bradley men's track and field team in the Gateway Classic Saturday at Korte Stadium.

Coffey's effort in the steeplechase, a run of 9:40.23, was the best by a Brave this season and made him the fourth-fastest performer in the event in Bradley men's track and field history. Garland won the 1,500-Meter Run in 3:55.52.

"We came out today and raced with much more intensity across the board," head coach Marc Burns said.  "Chase got us off to a great start with a nice solo personal best in the steeple.  Shane looked tough in the 1500 meters and showed that he will be a factor at the conference meet.  It was great to see Eric Delvo get down to 4 minutes and have Dan Allen and Evan Tuisl chase him to the line.  Aaron Peck is working his way back into shape after missing some time with a hip flexor injury.  His times will continue to drop in the 800 meters.  It was great to see Alexei competing hard in the 800 meters and 4x400 meter relay.  Jon Richards finally put together a nice 5,000 meters as he continues to prepare for the 10,000 meters at conference.  We made some nice progress today and will continue see good things happen in the coming weeks.  We are excited about our guys running the 4 x 1600m at Drake on Friday and Nathan Davis in the 10,000 meters on Thursday."

ThWe Braves had six of the top nine finishers in the 1,500:  Eric Delvo (4:00.45) nosed out Western Illinois' Zach Wiedeman by one-hundredth of a second to take fourth place, while Daniel Allen (4:02.70), Evan Tuisl (4:04.63), Marshall Moyer (4:07.19) and Nick Skromme (4:14.68) swept the sixth through ninth spots.

The Braves will return to action by participating in the Drake Relays Thursday and Friday, followed by the Western Illinois Twilight Saturday.