PEORIA, Ill. -- One of the most competitive meets in the country helps highlight the weekend schedule for the Bradley track & field teams with the Braves sending a contingent to Charlottesville, Va., for the Virginia Challenge Friday and Saturday in addition to competing at Saturday's Illinois Twilight in Champaign, Ill.
Bradley will get underway at the Virginia Challenge Friday night with a trio of individuals in the men's steeplechase at 6:55 p.m. (CDT). Sophomore Haran Dunderdale (Grantham, England/Carres) posted the second-best steeplechase time (8:55.68) in the MVC this spring earlier this month at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. He will be joined by seniors Eric Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) and Chase Coffey (Hanna City, Ill./Farmington). Coffey will run in the steeplechase for the first time in 2016, while Delvo, who is the school record holder in the event, looks to improve on his season-best time of 9:02.82 which is third in the Valley this year.
Friday's action will also include senior Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) in the women's 10,000 meters at 8:20 p.m. McMahon will run in the 10,000 meters for the first time since the 2013 NCAA West Preliminary her sophomore season. She owns the fourth-best 10,000 meter time in program history and her team-best 17:05.78 5,000 meter time from three weeks ago is currently fourth in the MVC.
Saturday's action will feature two Bradley women and a trio of Bradley men in the 1,500 meters. On the women's side, senior Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) will run in the event for the first time in 2016 after making her season debut last week at Illinois State. Junior Rachel Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk) ran a 4:26.50 earlier this season at Stanford for the second best time in the MVC this spring and third best time in Bradley history.
Coffey and Dunderdale are scheduled to join sophomore Michael Ward (Cardiff, South Wales/Llanishen) in the men's 1,500 meter field. The trio owns the third, fourth and fifth best 1,500 meter times in the MVC in 2016 with Coffey's career-best 3:48.09 from last week's Redbird Invitational pacing the group. The school record holder in the 1,500 meters, Ward will run the event for the first time since the first outing of the outdoor season.
Seniors Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) and Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) will toe the line for the women's 5,000 meters Saturday at 8:02 p.m., competing in the event for the first time this spring. Kristen won the 5,000 meter title at last year's MVC Championship, with Caitlin following less than a second behind in second.
Competition at the Virginia Challenge will wrap up Saturday at 8:37 p.m. with juniors Caleb Beck (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) and Patrick Campbell (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa) in the men's 10,000 meters. Both individuals clocked career-best times in the event earlier this year at San Francisco State. Campbell's time of 30:01.39 was two seconds off Coffey's school-record pace set back in 2014, while Beck's time of 30:23.85 is fifth in program history.
The weekend will also include a busy schedule at Saturday's Illinois Twilight, which will start at 5 p.m. Helping highlight the day's competition in Champaign, Ill., will be sophomore Kathryn Adelman (Naperville, Ill./Geneva), who will try to challenge her career-best time of 2:14.94 in the 800 meters. Adelman's time from last week's Redbird Invitational is 10th in school history and also ranks 10th in the MVC this year.
Junior Lauren Cunningham (Bayside, Wis./Nicolet) will help headline a group of six Bradley women in the 3,000 meters after posting the 12th fastest 5,000 meter time in Bradley history last week.
Following this weekend's competition, Bradley will take part in the Drake Relays (April 28-30) in addition to the RedHawk Invitational in Oxford, Ohio, Saturday, April 30 in the team's final competitions before the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship (May 13-15).
