Ward Wins Second Title as Braves Post School-Record Finish

Final Results

Track & Field 2/24/2019 6:25:00 PM

Senior Michael Ward won an individual title for the second-straight day to lead the Bradley track teams on the final day of the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship.

Ward became just the third runner in Valley history to repeat as champion in the 3,000m run as the senior swept the distance events (also won the 5,000m on Saturday) for the second-straight season. He clocked a time of 8:16.89 in the championship race as Bradley dominated the event on Sunday.

Classmate Haran Dunderdale finished as runner-up in 3,000m with a time of 8:16.96 – just seven hundredths of a second behind Ward. Overall, Bradley had the top four runners in the event and five of the top eight as senior Will Anderson was third with a PR time of 8:18.45, junior Jake Hoffert placed fourth in 8:19.55 and sophomore Ben Wagoner was eighth in 8:28.33. Both Dunderdale and Anderson joined Ward on the all-conference team with their top-three finishes.

Bradley's 30 team points in the 3,000m highlighted another record performance for the BU men. The Braves finished with a school-record 86 points – breaking the standard of 78 set last season – and placed fourth in the team competition. Bradley had not finished in the top four since 1970 when it was also fourth in just a five-team field.

Sophomore McKenzie Altmayer highlighted the day for the Bradley women with a runner-up finish at her first MVC Indoor Championship in the 3,000m. Altmayer clocked the sixth-best time in school history in 9:50.61 – more than two seconds off her previous PR – to finish second to Loyola's Lindsey Brewis. It was the first individual all-conference honors for Altmayer during her track career.

As a team, the Bradley women placed seventh of 10 schools with 41 points – improving their final placing by one spot from a year ago, while more than doubling its score from 2018 with 24 additional points.

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Watch as Michael Ward holds off Haran Dunderdale to win the 3,000m crown for the second-straight year as Bradley finishes 1⃣-2⃣-3⃣-4⃣-8⃣ pic.twitter.com/TC9YpaKoyR
— BradleyXC-Track (@BradleyXCTrack) February 24, 2019

🗣️🗣️ The Bradley lads break down a dominant 3,000m race pic.twitter.com/rKMXMDSpRB
— BradleyXC-Track (@BradleyXCTrack) February 24, 2019

Junior Alec Hartman also earned all-conference honors for the Bradley men on Sunday, finishing as runner-up in his third-straight MVC Championship in the 800m run. The junior clocked a time of 1:54.59 and was just 13 hundredths of a second away from topping the podium.

Six other Braves scored points in individual events on Sunday for the Bradley men. Three BU runners followed Hartman in the 800m as senior David Shadid was fifth in 1:55.93, freshman Joey Simon was sixth in 1:56.03 and junior Scott Seymour was eighth in 1:56.09. In the men's mile, junior Simon Paige led a group of three runners in sixth (4:15.10) with junior Ben Potrykus finishing seventh (4:16.33) and freshman Alec Danner in eighth (4:16.69). The Bradley 4x400 relay of Shadid, Alex Klinkner, Simon and Hartman also placed sixth with the second-best time in school history at 3:20.93.

The Braves also added four additional individual scorers on the women's side on Sunday. Seniors Niamh Markham (5:00.25) and Brooke Nusser (5:05.05) placed fourth and eighth, respectively, in the mile, while senior Kathryn Adelman was fourth in the 800m in 2:13.34. Junior Gabby Juarez followed Altmayer in the 3,000m and placed fifth in 9:57.19. Finally, the 4x400 relay completed the championship with a seventh-place finish in 4:02.19.

Anderson and Altmayer were also honored as the Missouri Valley Conference Elite 17 Award winners for owning the top GPA among all-conference honorees.

The Bradley teams are now off until the start of the outdoor season, which begins on March 23 at Southern Illinois.

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