PEORIA, Ill. – Sophomore Chase Coffey (Hanna City, Ill./Farmington) broke his own school record in the 3,000 meter steeplechase Saturday morning at the 104th Drake Relays and many season and career bests highlighted the afternoon's action for the Bradley track and field teams at the Stan Lyons Invitational in Indianapolis, Ind.
Coffey got the day started on a high note, breaking his own school record in the 3,000 meter steeplechase set earlier this year by three seconds. He finished seventh in the steeplechase with a time of 9:08.49 to wrap up competition for the Braves at the historic Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.
Action at the Stan Lyons Invitational in Indianapolis included several season and career bests in addition to three times which rank in the top 10 in school history.
Sophomore Eric Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) was one of three Braves to run career-best times in the men's 800 meters, clocking a career-best time of 1:54.77 to finish fifth in his heat. Delvo's time is the best time on the squad this season and ranks ninth among career-best times in program history.
In the women's 1,500 meters, freshman Rachel Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk) posted the top time on the team this season. Her time of 4:34.91 was good for third in her heat and is seventh among career-best times at Bradley.
Freshman Elizabeth Dutcher (Williamston, Mich./Williamston) helped highlight the sprints with a pair of strong efforts. She was second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.47 for the fourth-best time in program history and best performance in the event at BU since 1986. Dutcher also clocked the top 200 meter time by a Bradley runner since 2005, finishing second with a season-best effort of 26.27 seconds.
Freshman Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) paced six BU entries in the women's 800 meters, finishing fourth with a season-best time of 2:18.45.
Junior Daniel Allen (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) broke the four-minute mark for the first time in his career in the men's 1,500 meters to place second in the event at 3:58.27. Allen also teamed with Delvo and the freshmen tandem of Alex DiVerde (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) and Cole Dill (Tremont, Ill./Tremont) to turn in a season-best time of 3:30.82 to finish second in the 4x400 meter relay.
Leading a pack of five Bradley runners in the men's 5,000 meters was junior Nathan Davis (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown), who placed sixth (14:59.53). Senior Emily Gustafson (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) was BU's top finisher in the women's 5,000 meters at 19:05.11 to finish 11th. Freshman Danyalle Griffin (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) also helped highlight the day's events with a season-best time of 13.04 seconds in the 100 meter dash.
The Bradley track and field teams return to action Friday at the Billy Hayes Invitational in Bloomington, Ind., in the teams' final outing before the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championship.
