WICHITA, Kan. -- Freshman Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) capped off a strong freshman season, earning her third all-conference honor of the year by finishing third in the 5,000 meters Sunday to highlight the final day of competition for the Bradley Track and Field teams at the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championship.
McMahon posted the highest finish of the three-day event for the Braves, taking third in the 5,000 meters Sunday afternoon with a time of 17:41.21. She finished one second behind second-place finisher Elise Sigg of Illinois State. McMahon also earned all-conference honors at the State Farm MVC Indoor Championship in February after a third-place finish in the same event and claimed all-conference recognition in cross country in the fall.
"(Sarah) McMahon and (Emily) Delvo came up big today," head coach Marc Burns said. "They both ran very smart races. I was impressed with the spirit and pride they raced with and it showed in their results. Shane Garland ran his heart out today and put a point on the board in the 800 meters. Chase Coffey had a great effort in the 1500 meters for a new personal best and Jon Richards ran tough in the 5,000 meters. It was exciting to see Chelsea Griffin run a personal best in the 1,500 meters and Sarah Hallstein ran strong in her final race as a Brave."
In addition to McMahon's strong effort, the Bradley women's team also scored in the 800 meters with freshman Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) finishing fourth with a career-best time of 2:11.31. Delvo's time was the fifth best individual performance in program history as she matched her fourth-place finish from the indoor championship. Delvo's efforts helped the women's team finish with its highest point total at the outdoor championship since collecting 22 points at the 2000 championship.
On the men's side, sophomore Shane Garland (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) finished eighth in the men's 800 meters, finishing in 1:56.26 and missed scoring in the 1,500 meters by one and a half seconds. Garland was 10th in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:57.93, while freshman Chase Coffey (Hanna City, Ill./Farmington) followed in 11th with a season-best time of 3:58.03.
The men's team collected eight points in its first conference championship since 1992 and had its highest point total at a conference meet since 1986 (23 points).
The freshmen quartet of Hannah Booker (Tremont, Ill./Tremont), Taylor Johnson (Lincoln, Neb./Southeast), Kyela Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) and Delvo posted the ninth fastest time in school history with a season-best 4:02.25 to finish eighth.
The men's group of Aaron Peck (Moline, Ill./Moline), Eric Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin), Daniel Allen (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) and Evan Tuisl (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) posted a sixth-place finish in the 4x400 meter relay, crossing the line in a time of 3:30.20.
Specht was Bradley's top finisher in the women's 1,500 meters, running a 4:43.63 to finish 13th. Junior Jon Richards (Streator, Ill./Streator) ran a 15:36.25 to finish 16th in the men's 5,000 meters.
