NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Senior Chase Coffey (Hanna City, Ill./Farmington) turned in the fastest 5,000 meter time in the Missouri Valley Conference this season and broke the school record in the event to highlight the first day of competition for the Bradley track & field teams at Notre Dame's Meyo Invitational Friday.
Two weeks after his school record in the 5,000 meters was broken, Coffey ran in the event for the first time since 2014 and shattered Caleb Beck's mark set earlier this season by 23 seconds. Coffey was second in the field Friday night at the Meyo Invitational with a time of 14:11.14 behind champion Aaron Baumgarten of Michigan, who crossed the line at 14:08.75 to take top honors. In addition to posting the top 5,000 meter time in the MVC this season, Coffey shaved 25 seconds off his career-best time.
Freshmen Will Anderson (Avon, Ind./Avon) and Kerry Gschwendtner (Lisle, Ill./Naperville North) also helped highlight the men's 5,000 meters for the Braves. Anderson was 26th overall with his season-best time of 14:56.23 ranking as the sixth-best time in school history. Gschwendtner was close behind in 32nd, clocking the ninth-best time in school history at 15:09.03.
In the women's 5,000 meters, senior Lauren Houmes (Hoopeston, Ill./Hoopeston) posted a career-best time of 17:48.62 to finish 36th. Houmes took 10 seconds off her previous career-best effort and turned in the ninth-best time in Bradley history.
Both senior Kylie McKinney (Petersburg, Ill./PORTA) and freshman Abby Jockisch (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap) ran in the 5,000 meters for the first time in their careers and nearly broke into Bradley's career top 10. McKinney's time of 18:00.24 is 11th all-time at Bradley and was good for 41st, while Jockisch's time is 12th at Bradley (18:22.67) and she was 46th overall Friday.
Sophomore Rodney Johnson (Homewood, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor/Millikin) also helped highlight the day for the men's squad with a career-best time of 23.01 seconds in the 200 meters.
The Braves continue competition at the Meyo Invitational Saturday morning at 8:45 a.m. (CST) in addition to having individuals competing at the Olivet Nazarene Invitational in Bourbonnais, Ill., Saturday afternoon.
