PEORIA, Ill. -- The final weekend of competition for the Bradley men's and women's track & field teams before next month's Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship will see the Braves sending a small contingent to the historic Drake Relays in addition to competing at Saturday's Redhawk Invitational in Oxford, Ohio.
Bradley will send seven individuals to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Drake Relays, with the Braves competing in events Thursday and Saturday. Juniors Patrick Campbell (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa) and Caleb Beck (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) will take part in Thursday night's (9 p.m.) men's 5,000 meters. The pair both turned in career-best 10K times at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival to open April, with Campbell's time of 30:01.39 two seconds off the school record and Beck's personal best ranking fifth all-time at Bradley.
Saturday's action at the Drake Relays will start at 10:50 a.m. with junior Steffen Uhrich (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) in the men's steeplechase. Uhrich clocked a career-best 9:11.45, which ranks sixth in the MVC this spring, at the Gibson Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., three weeks ago in his last steeplechase effort.
The men's and women's 1,500 meters will also highlight Saturday's competition at the Drake Relays. Senior Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) and junior Rachel Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk) will run in the women's 1,500 meters at 2:58 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Delvo is coming off a career-best 1,500 meter performance of 4:23.47 at last week's Virginia Challenge in her first outing of 2016 at that distance. She was less than three-tenths of a second from Mary Goldkamp's 2011 school record time.
Sudbury also posted a career-best time in the 1,500 meters last week at Virginia, crossing the line at 4:26.14. Her time is fourth in the MVC, while Delvo's effort last week is second in the Valley.
In the men's 1,500 meters, sophomore Michael Ward (Cardiff, South Wales/Llanishen) is coming off a school-record performance at the Virginia Challenge and will be joined in the field by fellow sophomore Haran Dunderdale (Grantham, England/Carres). Ward broke his own 1,500 meter school record last week with a time of 3:44.33, which is best in the conference this year. Dunderdale's personal-best of 3:49.37 from earlier this spring is fifth in the MVC this spring and fifth in Bradley history.
At Miami's Redhawk Invitational Saturday, senior Eric Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) will help highlight the 800 and 1,500 meters for the men's team. Delvo will run in the 800 meters for the first time since 2014 and is one of four Bradley men in the 1,500 meters. His season-best 1,500 meter time from the season opener is fourth on the squad this season.
On the women's side, sophomore Kathryn Adelman (Naperville, Ill./Geneva) posted a top-10 800 meter time in the MVC last week (2:12.14) with her time ranking sixth all-time at Bradley and she is one of four Braves running in the event Saturday.
In the women's 5,000 meters, junior Lauren Cunningham (Bayside, Wis./Nicolet) challenged her career-best in the 3,000 meters last weekend and owns the top time this year among the six Braves slated to run in Saturday's 5,000 meters. Her career-best 5,000 meter time of 17:34.14 from two weeks ago is among the top 15 in the MVC in 2016.
Freshman Brooke Nusser (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) is expected to help pace a group of four Bradley women in the 1,500 meters at Miami to help highlight the day.
Following the weekend's competition the Bradley track & field teams will have a week off for finals before the MVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 13-15 in Terre Haute, Ind.