Bradley University Athletics

Braves Sweep Bradley Intercollegiate

Cross Country 9/20/2019 7:52:00 PM

The Bradley men's and women's cross country teams swept the Bradley Intercollegiate on Friday afternoon as both programs claimed the team titles in addition to the individual crowns as junior McKenzie Altmayer and senior Jake Hoffert finished first.

"The effort was there and it was nice to win in both the men's and women's races," said Bradley head coach Darren Gauson. "We packed up well in certain areas but I would have liked to have seen us pack up a little more towards the front. Our gaps were maybe a little too big but at this point of the year and with this kind of weather, we'll take it and get back to work in two weeks at Notre Dame."

Altmayer paced the Braves as BU won the team title for the sixth time in the last seven years with 24 points – easily ahead of Southeast Missouri State with 73 points. The junior won her first collegiate cross country race with a three-mile time of 17:21.1 – more than five seconds ahead of the runner-up. Altmayer is also the sixth different Brave in as many years to cross the finish line in first place.

Overall, Bradley finished with five of the top eight finishers as Altmayer was followed by sophomore Tyler Schwartz (17:29.5), sophomore Ayah Aldadah (17:40.7), freshman Sophia McDonnell (17:44.2) and freshman Lily Strauss (17:50.5).

Hoffert finished first in the meet for the second time in his career – he also won in 2017 – becoming just the second multiple champion in the 33 years of the Bradley Intercollegiate (Iowa's Stetson Steele won in 1995 and 1996). Hoffert ran the 8K course in 25:06.1 and finished 23 seconds ahead of the day's runner up.

The Braves finished with nine of the race's top 11 finishers overall to dominate the meet. Freshman Matthew Richtman made his collegiate cross country debut and placed second in 25:29.1, while senior Ben Potrykus (25:36.5), sophomore Brayden Huddleston (25:54.0) and freshman Drew Wenger (25:55.3) rounded out the top five for BU in fourth, sixth and seventh place.

Overall, Bradley finished first as a team with 20 points, while Wartburg was second with 41 points.

The Braves return to action on Friday, Oct. 4 at Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invitational, beginning at 2 p.m. CT.

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