PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley men's and women's track and field teams continue their indoor seasons Saturday at the Eastern Illinois John Craft Invitational in Charleston, Ill.
After a light season-opener at the Illini Classic last weekend, the Braves will head to Lantz Fieldhouse on the campus of Eastern Illinois Saturday to focus on the 600 meters, 800 meters and mile in the second indoor meet of the year.
Sophomore Lauren Cunningham (Bayside, Wis./Nicolet) and senior Kyela Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) will help pace a group of 10 Braves in the women's mile at 1 p.m. to kick off the running events for Bradley. Specht owns the 12th-best mile time in program history, while Cunningham's career-best mile time of 5:04.23 at the 2014 MVC Indoor Championship ranks 15th.
Junior Marshall Moyer (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington) was the top finisher for the Bradley men in the mile last week at the Illini Classic and is one of six Braves slated to run in the same event Saturday. Moyer's time of 4:19.97 was just outside of the top 10 in school history. Sophomore Patrick Campbell (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa) is also expected to finish near the front of the Bradley pack in the men's mile.
The men's 600 meters (2:05 p.m.) will feature a pair of Braves who turned in top five times in school history last week in Champaign, Ill. Junior Evan Tuisl (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) was one and one-half seconds off the school record pace in the 600 meters Saturday with a time of 1:24.41 for the third-best time by a Brave, while senior Shane Garland (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) was close behind at 1:25.46 (fifth all-time).
Four Bradley women will run in the 800 meters (2:35 p.m.) for the first time in their collegiate careers and will join four other Braves in the event. Freshman Haran Dunderdale (Grantham, England/Carres) looks to build on a strong track debut at Illinois, which saw him post the fastest 800 meter time on the men's side since 1992. Dunderdale's time of 1:56.36 is fourth among Bradley career-best times.
The Braves wrap up the day with the distance medley relay at 4:10 p.m. The Bradley women will have one team competing, while the men's squad is slated to have four teams running in the DMR to conclude Saturday's action.
Junior Elizabeth Dutcher (Williamston, Mich./Williamston) gets the day started for Bradley in the women's pentathlon at 9 a.m. after turning in the top three pentathlon scores in program history last year.
The Bradley men's and women's track teams will have the next weekend off, before returning to action Feb. 6 & 7 at Notre Dame's Meyo Invitational.
