NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- After a strong opening night to the outdoor track and field season Friday, Bradley had another strong effort Saturday at the Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invitational to conclude the first meet of the outdoor season.
Junior Nathan Davis (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown) and sophomore Eric Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) helped highlight action on the men's side with career-best times in the 3,000 meters and the 1,500 meters, respectively. Sophomore Chase Coffey (Hanna City, Ill./Farmington) followed up Friday's school record in the 3,000 meters by breaking his own school record in the 2,000 meter steeplechase Saturday.
On the women's side, sophomore Kyela Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) clocked a career-best time in the 800 meters, while fellow sophomore Taylor Johnson (Lincoln, Neb./Southeast) beat her previous career-best effort in the 1,500 meters. Freshman Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) also had a strong debut in her first collegiate outdoor meet, becoming just the fifth BU women's runner to run a sub 10-minute 3,000 meter time.
“This meet was a perfect start to the outdoor season,” said Bradley head coach Marc Burns. “We raced hard and were rewarded with multiple personal bests and heat winners. As a staff we were really impressed with the competitive efforts across the board. It was great to see us win some races today. Nathan Davis showed today that he is back in good form. Eric Delvo had a big finish in the 1,500 meters to win his race and Chase Coffey looked strong in his two races. On the women's side, (Sarah) McMahon and Kristen Busch looked great in the 3,000 meters. There were so many great performances that it is hard to single them out and that is a good problem to have. There was some solid national level competition today and our teams met the challenge and looked strong. We are really looking forward to what this season will bring after this weekend. This was a fantastic start to the outdoor season.”
Davis opened the day by winning his heat in the 3,000 meters and clocking the second fastest 3,000 meter time in program history at 8:35.70, ranking behind Coffey's record-setting effort set Friday night. Delvo won his heat in the 1,500 meters with a career-best time of 3:56.65, which ranks ninth among Bradley career-best times and he also paced the Braves in the 800 meters with a time of 1:58.37.
Busch was third overall in Saturday's women's 3,000 meters, crossing the line in a time of 9:54.21. Her time is fourth among Bradley career marks and she is one of five individuals in program history to post a sub 10-minute time in the event.
Specht ran a career-best time in the 800 meters to lead a pack of Braves, crossing the line at 2:14.30 for the sixth fastest career-best time in school history. Fellow sophomore Hannah Booker (Tremont, Ill./Tremont) was on her heels at 2:14.83 for the seventh fastest effort in school history.
In the women's 1,500 meters, Johnson's career-best effort of 4:41.17 ranks 15th on the Bradley career-best list. Helping highlight the sprints was freshman Elizabeth Dutcher (Williamston, Mich./Williamston), whose 100 meter hurdle time of 15.51 seconds was the fastest by a BU runner since 1986 (sixth all-time) and her 400 meter hurdle time of 1:07.24 was the fastest at Bradley since 2007.
Coffey ended the day on a high note, breaking his school record in the 2,000 meter steeplechase. He topped his previous career-best effort of 6:14.45 by almost 20 seconds, posting a time of 5:57.83 to place fourth in the event.
The Braves are scheduled to send a small group to next week's Stanford Invitational and San Francisco State Invitational, while the rest of the squads will compete next Saturday at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic in Carbondale, Ill.
