NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Three school records were broken on the final day of competition at the Meyo Invitational for the Bradley men's and women's track & field teams to highlight Saturday's competition for the Braves.
Sophomore Michael Ward (Cardiff, South Wales/Llanishen) won his heat and broke his own school mark in the men's mile, while senior Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) topped her own school record in the women's 3,000 meters and turned in the top time in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.
In addition, freshman David Shadid (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame) posted a new school-record time in the 400 meters to break his own record set earlier this year at the Gladstein Invitational in Bloomington, Ind., two weeks ago.
Ward claimed top honors in his heat and finished seventh overall with a career-best mile time of 4:02.86 to take almost four seconds off his previous school mark in his first mile of the year. Junior Daniel Gagne (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) turned in a career-best mile time of 4:08.61, which now ranks second in school history, to finish 25th overall and junior Mike Bianchina (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) was close behind in 29th at 4:10.18. Bianchina's time is third in school history.
In the women's 3,000 meters, Busch finished ninth overall at 9:25.01 to improve her previous career-best time and school record from earlier this season by over seven seconds. Twin sister Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) was 13th in the field with a career-best time of her own at 9:31.68.
Shadid took 43rd in the men's 400 meters, crossing the line at 49.36 seconds to beat his own previous school record of 49.64.
The men's 3,000 meters featured juniors Patrick Campbell (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa) and Caleb Beck (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) both posting career-best times. Campbell was second in his heat and 18th overall with a time of 8:15.42 for the second-best time in school history, while Beck's 8:17.09 was good for 25th and ranks third among Bradley career-best times.
Junior Rachel Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk) claimed top honors in her heat of the women's mile. Her career-best time of 4:54.91 is now fifth in school history and was good for 34th Saturday. The women's 800 meters featured sophomore Kathryn Adelman (Naperville, Ill./Geneva) clocking a career-best time of 2:14.32 for the seventh-best time in Bradley history.
Freshman Scott Seymour (Kenosha, Wis./Mary D. Bradford) also helped highlight the day for the Braves with a season-best 800 meter time of 1:55.62, which ranks fourth all-time at Bradley.
In addition to competition at the Meyo Invitational, senior Elizabeth Dutcher (Williamston, Mich./Williamston) helped highlight the day for the Braves at the Olivet Nazarene Invitational in Bourbonnais, Ill., with a career-best performance in the long jump. Her leap of 5.47 meters, which was fifth in the field, is fourth among Bradley career marks and best by a Brave since 1983.
The Bradley track & field teams are back in action next weekend at the Iowa State Classic (Feb. 12 & 13) in Ames, Iowa, along with the Fred Wilt Invite in West Lafayette, Ind., (Feb. 13).
