On the track, sophomore hurdler Ross Bravo set a personal record in every meet of the indoor season and finished on the podium at the BIG EAST Championships Feb. 23.
Off the track, he stays active.
A mathematics major, he works as a tour guide on campus he and sings in Marquette’s male a cappella group, where he is also the assistant music director.
Bravo said he has always been interested in music as part of a very musical family. His sister is working on a music degree at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He said the a cappella group gave him a way to continue his homegrown love for music while dealing with his busy schedule.
He is also very passionate about being a Marquette tour guide. Bravo said it is more than just a job to him. He said he loves walking around campus and hyping it up to other people.
“The office is full of social people who love the campus and what they do,” Bravo said.
Despite the heavy workload, Bravo said he has found a good balance, but it’s still not easy.
“I over-commit myself and essentially force myself to have no free time,” Bravo said. “Everything comes up, one (thing) after the other.”
Both Bravo and head coach Bert Rogers said the fairly consistent track and field schedule allows track athletes to take part in other activities. Typically, most meets will occur Fridays or Saturdays, and practices are in the morning or early afternoon on weekdays, leaving almost all weeknights open.
“Our track schedule is great,” Bravo said. “We get in a good routine compared to other sports, who may not know when they would be available to do other things.”
Despite track allowing athletes to schedule other events in their weeks, Rogers said he is still impressed whenever he hears the stories of his athletes and all they’re involved in, especially Bravo.
“Ross has a lot of irons in the fire and he takes care of all of them,” Rogers said. “He’s a perfect example and model of a student-athlete.”
Rogers credited Bravo with being a hard worker in practice, always showing up on time and going above and beyond what is asked of him. With all that hard work, Bravo and Rogers said they both feel there has been a lot of growth since the start of Bravo’s freshman year.
“There were so many new things freshman year,” Bravo said. “Now I’m making the most out of everything that’s been given to me.”
Bravo’s growth impressed Rogers, who said that Bravo is stacking up there with the top hurdlers in Marquette history and that Bravo could easily reach the top of that list down the line in his career.
“He takes coaching well,” Rogers said. “He listens and tries to make corrections to his mistakes and it definitely shows on the track.”
