CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Freshman Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) finished third in the 5,000 meters and fellow freshman Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) took fourth in the 800 meters to highlight the final day of competition at the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship for the Bradley and track and field team Sunday.
The Braves finished seventh in the team standings with 21 points, marking the most points for BU at the MVC Indoor Championship since earning 22 points at the 2000 indoor championship. McMahon earned nine of Bradley's 21 points, with strong finishes in the 5,000 meters (3rd) and 3,000 meters (6th). In addition to Delvo's fourth-place finish in the 800 meters, she was part of BU's third-place distance medley relay team Saturday and Sunday's eighth-place 4x400 meter relay squad.
"Emily Delvo and Sarah McMahon stepped up big time today," head coach Marc Burns said. "I am really proud of how all the women competed this weekend. This is a nice step forward for our program."
After yesterday's sixth-place finish in the 3,000 meters, McMahon helped highlight the final day of competition with a third-place showing in the 5,000 meters. McMahon's time of 17:12.18 is third on the Bradley career best list and is the fastest time by a BU runner in the event since Mary Ellen Hill ran a 17:05.84 in 2000.
"Sarah ran a perfect race," Burns added. "She started in the back and moved up slowly through the field. With two laps to go, she made a strong move and pulled away for third."
Delvo took third in her heat in yesterday's 800 meter prelims to advance to Sunday's finals where she finished fourth. Her time of 2:14.44 was less than a second off her season-best time as she edged Illinois State's Jilana Kerman (2:14.73) by less than three-tenths of a second for fourth.
"Emily moved up throughout the race and got cut off with 100 meters to go," stated Burns. "Instead of feeling sorry for herself; she ramped back up and ran down fourth place. She is a fighter and was not going to be denied down the stretch."
Delvo also joined with freshmen Taylor Johnson (Lincoln, Neb./Southeast), Hannah Booker (Tremont, Ill./Tremont) and Kyela Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) to finish eighth in the 4x400 meter relay with a season-best time of 4:07.27.
Freshman Molly Dahlquist (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame) was Bradley's top finisher in the mile to open the day, clocking a season-best 5:08.40 to finish 10th and was less than three-quarters of a second out of the top eight.
Senior Lyndsey Cleghorn (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) rounded out the competition for the Braves, clearing 1.52 meters in the high jump to finish 15th.
Bradley is scheduled to close out the indoor track and field season Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind.
