PEORIA, Ill. -- Five Bradley Track & Field runners head to Austin, Texas, for the 2015 NCAA West Preliminary, which will be held Thursday through Saturday at the University of Texas' Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Kicking off the competition for the Braves will be freshman Michael Ward (Cardiff, South Wales/Llanishen) Thursday at 6 p.m. in the first round of the men's 1,500 meters. The school record holder in the 1,500 meters, Ward will run in the first of four heats with the top five in each heat and the next four best times reaching Saturday's 6:45 p.m. national quarterfinals. The top five in each heat along with the next two fastest times Saturday will reach the national semifinals.
Thursday is the busiest day of the three-day meet for Bradley with four of five Braves slated to run. Senior Kyela Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) will toe the line in the women's 800 meter prelims Thursday at 8:10 p.m. Specht, who will be in the fifth of six 800 meter heats, could reach Friday's national quarterfinals (7 p.m.) if she posts a top three finish in her heat or has one of the six-best remaining times.
Twin sisters Caitlin Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) and Kristen Busch (Waterloo, Ill./Freeburg) will wrap up Thursday's action with the 10,000 meters at 9 p.m. Kristen finished ninth in the 10,000 meters at last year's NCAA West Prelim to earn a spot in the national championship and went on to earn honorable mention All-America honors in 2014, while Caitlin was the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Athlete of the Year in cross country after winning the individual title. The duo can reach the 10,000 meter national championship, which will take place Thursday, June 11 in Eugene, Ore., with a top-12 finish.
Senior Emily Delvo (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin) had strong enough performances in 2015 to qualify for three events at this year's NCAA West Preliminary, but will focus on the 5,000 meters Saturday at 8 p.m. despite posting a school-record time in the 800 and the second-best time in program history in the 1,500 meters this spring. Delvo will line up in the first of two heats with the top five in each heat along with next two times reaching the national championship June 13. Her time of 16:21.65 at the Stanford Invitational was tops in the MVC this spring.
Ward, who might be running the NCAA West Prelim 1,500 meter finals Saturday at 6:45 p.m., is slated to run in the men's 5,000 meters Saturday at 8:45 p.m. to conclude the meet for the Braves. Scheduled to run in the first of two heats, Ward broke the school record and clocked the top time in the MVC at Stanford at 13:58.21 as he became just the second individual in The Valley to break 14 minutes since at least 2007.
BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live results. For complete information about the NCAA West Preliminary, including links to video streaming, visit - http://www.texassports.com/news/2015/3/22/XC_TF_0322151441.aspx
