Braves Track Claim Two Titles on Opening Day of Valley Championship

Day 1 Results

Track & Field 2/23/2019 9:08:00 PM

The Bradley track teams completed a strong opening day to the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship with both the men and women claiming one title.

Senior Michael Ward began the championship races by winning his second-straight title in the 5,000m run on Saturday night. The senior posted his collegiate best time of 14:23.91 – the sixth-best in school history – to become the seventh runner in Valley history (and first since 2014) to repeat as conference champion in the event.

As Ward was repeating as champion, the BU women's distance medley relay team won their first-ever conference crown. The Bradley team of sophomore McKenzie Altmayer, freshman Hannah Ivy, senior Kathryn Adelman and senior Niamh Markham ran the relay in 11:56.37 to finish 6.5 seconds ahead of second-place Northern Iowa. The Braves' time is also the fifth-fastest in school history.

Overall, the Bradley men are tied for first with Northern Iowa after the first day of competition and four events with 31 points, while the Bradley women are in seventh place with 16 points.

Watch as Michael Ward pulls away for his second-straight Valley crown in the 5,000m run and the Braves finish with four of the top six runners! pic.twitter.com/31SQXxuzeA
— BradleyXC-Track (@BradleyXCTrack) February 24, 2019

VALLEY CHAMPS! The Bradley relay team of McKenzie Altmayer, Hannah Ivy, Kathryn Adleman and Niamh Markham wins the school's first-ever @MVCsports women's DMR title!!!! pic.twitter.com/5yACxJZX2n
— BradleyXC-Track (@BradleyXCTrack) February 24, 2019

Ward wasn't the only Brave to shine in the 5,000m as four Bradley runners scored in the event with BU owning five of the top 10 spots overall. Junior Jake Hoffert earned his first career all-conference honors at the indoor meet in the event, placing third with a time of 14:26.15. Senior Will Anderson (14:35.45) and junior Luke Hoffert (14:45.06) also scored and placed fifth and sixth, respectively, while sophomore Brayden Huddleston finished 10th (15:08.79).

The men's distance medley relay team earned All-Valley honors after placing second in the event in 9:57.48 – just 42 hundredths of a second behind first-place Illinois State. The BU team consisted of junior Simon Paige, senior David Shadid, junior Alec Hartman and senior Haran Dunderdale.

Three Braves scored in the women's 5,000m run as freshman Tyler Schwartz led a BU pack in sixth place in 17:32.96. Juniors Gabby Juarez and Abby Jockisch finished right behind in seventh (17:36.37) and eighth (17:41.76), respectively.

Bradley also qualified 11 runners for finals on Sunday. The BU men will feature four of the eight runners in 800m final after Hartman, Shadid, Scott Seymour and Joey Simon all advanced, while Bradley will have four of the 10 vying for a title in the mile with Paige, Alec Danner, Nick Porter and Ben Potrykus. Danner led the four qualifiers with a PR time of 4:16.55.

To go with their DMR title, Adelman and Markham also advanced to their respective Sunday finals. Adelman finished first in her heat in the 800m, while senior Brooke Nusser and Markham placed first and second in the mile run.

The action on the final day of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship begins tomorrow at 1:15 p.m.

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