A second-place conference finish in cross country coupled with a seventh-place team finish at the NCAA Regional, kicked off what was a very successful year for the Bradley Women's Cross Country/Track & Field team during the 2013-14 school year. The season ended with Kristen Busch garnering honorable mention All-America recognition after an 18th-place finish in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Championship.
Head coach Marc Burns visited with Dave Snell to review the 2013-14 school year in addition to talk about the upcoming 2014-15 season, which will include the Braves hosting the 2014 NCAA Midwest Cross Country Regional at Newman Golf Course in November.
2014 Women's Cross Country Recap
• Sisters Kristen Busch and Caitlin Busch provided a glimpse of what was to come early in the season when the pair finished first and second, respectively to help Bradley win the Illinois State Invitational. Kristen Busch's time of 17:21.05 was the second-best 5K time in school history as she earned MVC Athlete of the Week honors for her effort.
• At the MVC Championship, Sarah McMahon finished second and helped pace Bradley to a second-place team finish for the team's best league championship performance since 2002.
• McMahon's second-place finish was the best by a Brave since 2009 as she earned All-MVC honors for the third consecutive season.
• Joining McMahon on the All-Valley squad were Kristen Busch and Emily Delvo. Busch was sixth in the field, while Delvo followed on her heels in seventh.
• In addition, Casey Kramer took home the MVC's Freshman of the Year award after placing 22nd in the field.
• McMahon, who earned the MVC Elite 18 Award at the MVC Cross Country Championship, broke her own school 6K record at the NCAA Midwest Regional. She finished 15th overall to earn all-region honors for the second consecutive year and had the best individual finish by a Brave at the NCAA Regional since 2002.
• Kristen Busch joined McMahon as the only individuals to break 21 minutes in a 6K and was also named to the All-Region squad after finishing 17th at the NCAA Regional.
2013 Cross Country Notes
• The Braves clocked three of the four fastest 5K times in school history, with Kristen Busch's time of 17:21.05 ranking second behind Mary Ellen Hill's 1998 school record of 17:08. The 2014 season saw Bradley runners collect four of the top eight 5K times in program history.
• In addition to Sarah McMahon and Kristen Busch posting the top two 6K times in school history, Bradley runners accounted for three of the top five and four of the top nine 6K times in Bradley history.
• McMahon joined Mary Ellen Hill as the only individuals at Bradley to finish in the top 10 at three MVC Cross Country Championships. In addition, McMahon and Hill along with Angie Zimmerman are the only runners in school history to finish in the top 25 at two or more NCAA Regionals.
Looking Ahead To 2014
• Bradley returns its top five finishers from both the MVC Championship and NCAA Regional.
• The Braves return three All-MVC performers for the 2014 Cross Country season, joining defending champ Southern Illinois as the only team with multiple all-conference honorees from last fall.
2014 Indoor Track & Field Recap
• Bradley was eighth at the MVC Indoor Track & Field Championship, earning a school-record 46 points. The Braves had a pair of individual champions at the Valley Indoor meet for the first since the 1999 event.
• The season featured Bradley's first indoor individual conference champion since 2000, with Kristen Busch winning the 5,000 meters with a school-record of 16:35.05 to break Mary Ellen Hill's 1998 school record. Sarah McMahon also earned all-conference honors with a second-place finish in the 5,000 meters.
• After missing the 2013 track season due to injury, Emily Delvo returned to win the 800 meter title at the MVC Championship.
• Kristen Busch was second in the 3,000 meters, missing a second conference title by less than two seconds.
• The Braves also broke the 1986 school record in the 4x400 meter relay at the MVC Championship.
Record Breaking Efforts
• In addition to a pair of school records at the MVC Indoor Championship, Elizabeth Dutcher had a school-record 3,218 points in the pentathlon during the indoor campaign.
• The Braves also broke a school record in the distance medley relay and posted three of the top five DMR times in school history.
• Emily Delvo clocked two of the top three 800 meter times in school history and her career-best time at the MVC Championship was one second off the school-record pace.
2014 Outdoor Season Recap
• Like the MVC Indoor Championship, the 2014 MVC Outdoor Championship featured a school record point total for the Braves, who finished eighth.
• Sophomore Kristen Busch won the 10,000 meter title and went on to finish 18th at the NCAA Championship in Eugene, Ore., to earn honorable mention All-America recognition. Busch earned a spot in the NCAA Championship field after a ninth-place showing at the NCAA West Prelim in Fayetteville, Ark.
• Emily Delvo joined Mary Ellen Hill as the only individuals in program history to win a pair of individual titles in the same MVC Outdoor Track & Field Championship, sweeping the 800 & 1,500 meter titles. Delvo is the fourth individual in league history to sweep the 800 & 1,500 meter titles at the MVC Outdoor Championship and the first since Noa Beitler of Southern Illinois in 2003.
• Kristen Busch was the first Bradley runner to advance to the NCAA Championship since Mary Ellen Hill finished fourth in the 5,000 meters at the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championship. In addition, Busch ran in the 5,000 meters and finished 11th at the NCAA West Prelim to become the first Brave to run in two events at the NCAA Preliminaries.
Pace Setters
• In addition to the school record in the 10,000 meters, Kristen Busch turned in a school-record time in the 3,000 meters during the outdoor season. She owns the top three 10,000 meter individual performances in school history. She also posted the second fastest 5,000 meter time in program history
• Twin sister Caitlin Busch finished fifth in the steeplechase at the MVC Championship and clocked a school-record time at the Valley meet.
• Elizabeth Dutcher's 4,476 points in the heptathlon at the MVC Championship were the most by a Brave since 1986 and rank second in Bradley history.
• Emily Delvo was five one-hundredths of a second from matching the school mark in the 800 meters at the MVC Outdoor Championship and also posted the second-best 1,500 meter time in school history during the spring.
Looking Ahead To 2015
• Bradley returns the bulk of its lineup from 2014 next spring after record-setting performances at both the MVC Indoor & Outdoor Championships.
