PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley men's and women's track & field teams will take to the track one last time before next week's Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship, heading to Charleston, Ill., for the Eastern Illinois Friday Night Special at Lantz Fieldhouse.
For most of the Braves it will be a final tune-up for the Valley Championship, while some team members will have the weekend off from competition.
Friday's action gets underway at approximately 2:30 p.m. with senior Elizabeth Dutcher (Williamston, Mich./Williamston) competing in the shot put, long jump and high jump.
The highlight of the day for Bradley will likely be the 3,000 meters with eight women and six men slated to run. In the women's 3,000 meter field, freshman Gabby Juarez (Streamwood, Ill./Streamwood) helps headline the field after nearly breaking five minutes in the mile last week at Iowa State for the 11th best time in school history (5:00.23).
Junior Daniel Gagne (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) is one of six Braves entered in the men's 3,000 meters. Gagne will run in the event for the first time this season after clocking the second-best mile time in program history two weeks ago at Notre Dame. Fellow junior Mike Bianchina (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) is also running the 3,000 meters for the first time in 2016 and will likely finish toward the front of the Bradley pack.
Freshman Brooke Nusser (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) owns the top mile time on the squad among five Braves slated to run in the event Friday after posting a season-best time last week in West Lafayette, Ind. The men's mile will feature Taylor Floyd Mews (Milwaukee, Wis./Wauwatosa West) running the event for the first time since the 2016 indoor season opener and junior Joe Fritzsche (Mt. Zion, Ill./Mt. Zion) making his indoor season debut.
In the women's 800 meters, junior Rachel Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk) looks to build off last week's performance at Iowa State, where she clocked the third-best mile time in school history and best by a Brave since 2011 (4:51.74).
Freshman Scott Seymour (Kenosha, Wis./Mary D. Bradford) owns the top 800 meter time among the Bradley entries in the men's 800 meter field at 1:55.62 for the fourth-best time at Bradley. He will be joined in Friday's 800 meters by a pair of Braves making their 2016 indoor debuts in sophomore Haran Dunderdale (Grantham, England/Carres) and senior Evan Tuisl (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton).
After Friday's outing, the Bradley track & field teams head to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for the MVC Indoor Championships Feb. 27 & 28.
