PEORIA, Ill. – Freshman Michael Ward (Cardiff, South Wales/Llanishen) will run in both the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters at next week's NCAA Track & Field West Preliminary and a quartet of Bradley women will also compete at the NCAA West Prelim May 28-30 in Austin, Texas, announced Thursday afternoon.

Junior Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) will again run in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Prelim after earning honorable mention All-American honors in the event last year.  She will be joined by twin sister Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) in the 10,000 meter semifinal field.

In addition, junior Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) qualified for the national semifinal field in the 5,000 meters and senior Kyela Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) earned a spot in the 800 meter first-round.  The Bradley men have an individual in the NCAA West Prelim for the second straight year, while the program record four individuals for the Bradley women gives that team a qualifier for the third consecutive year and fifth time in six seasons. 

Ward was sidelined for last week's Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championship due to an injury, but will run in a pair of events at next week's NCAA West Prelim.  The school record holder in both the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters, he will kick things off Thursday, May 28 at 6 p.m. in the first round of the 1,500 meters.  The finals of the 1,500 meters is slated for Saturday at 6:45 p.m.  Ward broke the school record in the 1,500 meters at Stanford's Payton Jordan Invitational back on May 2 in his last outing and clocked the third-best time in the MVC this season at 3:44.56.

Thursday's action also includes Specht in the first round of the 800 meters at 8:10 p.m.  Specht posted two of the top-10 800 meter performances in school history this spring and her career-best 2:09.11 at the 2015 Drake Relays is the second-best time recorded on The Hilltop.  She posted the top time in the 800 meter prelims at last week's MVC Championship and finished fourth overall in the Valley 800 meter finals.  The finals of the 800 meters at the NCAA West Prelim will be held Friday, May 29 at 7 p.m.

Wrapping up the first day of the NCAA West Prelim for the Bradley women on May 28 will be the Busch twins in the 10,000 meter national semifinals at 9 p.m.  Kristen Busch won the 2015 MVC Outdoor titles in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters this spring and has won back-to-back 10,000 meter Valley crowns.  Last year, she finished ninth at the NCAA West Prelim and went on to take 18th in the event at the 2014 NCAA National Championship.  Her season-best time of 34:17.84 at the Stanford Invitational in early April was the best in the MVC this season and ranks as the third-best time of her career.

Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) was close behind Kristen at the MVC Championship in third and her season-best effort of 34:30.78 also set at Stanford is second in school history behind her sister's school record, in addition to ranking second in the MVC this season.  Both Kristen and Caitlin earned all-conference honors in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters this year.

Highlighting action for the Braves on Saturday, May 30 will be the 5,000 meter national semifinals.  Delvo will run in the women's race at 8 p.m., while Ward is scheduled to return in the men's semifinal at 8:45 p.m. 

Delvo ran in the 5,000 meters just once in 2015 and posted the top time in the MVC in the event this spring.  Her time of 16:21.65 at the Stanford Invitational is second in school history behind Mary Ellen Hill's 1998 school record.  Last week, Delvo earned all-conference honors in both the 800 and 1,500 meters at the MVC Championship. 

Ward also ran in the 5,000 meters once in his rookie season, but was impressive in his debut by breaking the 1986 school record in the event.  The second individual in the MVC to break 14 minutes since at least 2007, Ward's league-best time of 13:58.21 is more than 30 seconds faster than the second best time in school history. 

The group will all be competing for spots at the NCAA Championship which will be held June 10-13 in Eugene, Ore.