CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Freshman Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) qualified for Sunday's 800 meter finals and helped Bradley to a third-place finish in the distance medley relay, while freshman Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) finished sixth in the 3,000 meters to highlight the opening day of competition for the Bradley track and field team at the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship Saturday.
"We had a strong first day scoring where we needed to and advancing Delvo to the 800 meter final," head coach Marc Burns said. "She looked great in the prelims and advanced easily to the final."
Delvo finished third in her heat and clocked the fifth fastest 800 meter time in the field, finishing with a season-best time of 2:13.81. Delvo's time is fourth on the Bradley career best list and four seconds off Mary Goldkamp's school record of 2:09.61 set last year.
Freshman Hannah Booker (Tremont, Ill./Tremont) also turned in a strong effort in the 800 meters, placing fourth in her heat. Booker's season-best time of 2:17.10 is sixth on Bradley's career best list and was good for 13th in the field.
In the 3,000 meters, freshman Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) scored the first points for Bradley with a sixth-place finish. McMahon clocked a sub 10-minute 3,000 meters for the second time this season, finishing in a time of 9:58.89 and was two and a half seconds out of the top four.
"McMahon persevered a physical and tactical 3k to finish sixth," Burns added. "She learned a lot and closed hard."
Delvo and Booker helped wrap up the day with a third-place finish in the distance medley relay. The duo joined with freshmen Molly Dahlquist (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame) and Kyela Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) to post the second fastest DMR time in school history at 11:55.57. The Braves were six seconds behind first-place finisher Illinois State and ended the day with nine points.
"Our DMR ran a fantastic race and almost broke the school record," stated Burns. "Molly really set the tone for us with a big kick to hand off in second. Booker held her own and Delvo ran the fastest 800 meter split of all the teams. Specht went out in 2:25 for the first 800 meters and was able to close for third. I am thrilled for them to all earn all conference honors as freshmen."
Bradley continues competition at the 2012 State Farm MVC Indoor Championship Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. with the mile.
