Track & Field Set For MVC Indoor Championship

Track & Field 2/25/2022 2:00:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Track & Field heads to Chicago for the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Championship, which will be held Sunday and Monday at the Track & Field Center at Gately Park.

MEET INFO
The MVC Indoor Championship will be held in a new location for the first time since the 2007 championship was held in Carbondale, Ill., with this year's meet held at the Track & Field Center at Gately Park located in Chicago's historic Pullman community. The 139,000-square foot facility, with a seating capacity of 3,500, features a hydraulically banked 200-meter track, a 4,000-square foot curtained warm-up area, eight sprint lanes, two long and triple jump runways and pits, pole-vault runway and pads, a high jump area, discus area and scoreboard.

Action begins Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. with sophomore Kyra Koontz in the pentathlon. Sunday's competition also features the prelims in the 60-meter hurdles, 60-meter dash, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters and mile. Highlighting Sunday's events will be the finals for the long jump, 5,000 meters and Distance Medley Relay. Sunday's coverage on ESPN3 will begin at 3 p.m.

Monday's competition is slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. for the Braves with the women's and men's mile finals. In addition to finals for the triple jump, 3,000 meters and 4x400, Monday's action will include the finals for the 60-meter hurdles, 60-meter dash, 200, 400 and 800. The ESPN3 broadcast for Monday's action will start at 11:15 a.m.

The top three finishers in each event will be named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Team.

2021 MVC Recap
For the first time in program history both the Bradley men's and women's teams eclipsed 50 points at the same MVC Indoor Championship with the Bradley men taking fifth (51 points) and the women's squad collecting a record 58 points to finish sixth.

Sophomore Julia Nielsen won the 800-meter title at last year's MVC Indoor Championship and went on to sweep the Valley's 800-meter titles after taking top honors again at the MVC Outdoor Championship.

Highlighting last year's competition was the Braves sweeping the men's and women's DMR titles. The men's title was the fourth in the last seven seasons, while the women's DMR crown was Bradley's second in three years.
On the men's side, sophomore Max Dieterich (mile) and junior Charlie Parrish (3,000 meters) both captured all-conference honors following second-place individual finishes.

Ranking In The MVC
The Braves enter the indoor championship with 11 times in the top five in the MVC this season in addition to a pair of relays.

Freshman Nicola Jansen owns the top time in the Valley in both 3,000 & 5,000 meters, with her 3K the best in the MVC since 2019 and her 5K mark the best in the league dating back to 2016. Sophomore Sophia McDonnell's 3,000 time is third in the MVC and her 5,000 time ranks fourth.

For the men's team, three Braves rank in the top five in the MVC in the 5,000 meters with junior George Watson pacing the group. Watson's 5K time is tops in the Valley with Parrish (3^rd) and freshman Michael Rebello (4^th) close behind. Watson also owns the third-best 3K time in the MVC this year.

Nielson's school-record 800 meter time is second in the MVC, while freshman Amiyah Davis is fourth in the league in the 400 meters, with the rookie setting school marks in the both the 200 and 400 this season. Sophomore Max Dieterich owns the fourth-best men's mile time in the Valley in 2022.

BRAVES LINEUP
Below is the lineup for the Bradley teams and what events each is schedule to run at the championship:

Bradley Men		Bradley Women
Miguel Agyei	400m, 60m hurdles, 4x400, DMR	Kelsey Dalton	60m
Matt Aho	5,000m	Amiyah Davis	400m, DMR, 4x400
Zach Albrecht	800m, 4x400	Julia de La Piedra Sitjas	Mile
Rodrigo Alvarez Gonzalez	3,000m	Shae Fuller	Long Jump, Triple Jump
Noah Costa	3,000m	Maya Henderson	800m, 4x400
Alec Danner	5,000m	Hannah Ivy	400m, 4x400
Max Dieterich	Mile, DMR	Nicola Jansen	3,00m, 5,000m
Aidan Donohue	Mile	Kyra Koontz	Pentathlon
Mason Jones	800m	Tiana LoStracco	800m, DMR
Alex Klinkner	800m, 4x400	Sidney Martin	60m, 200m
Charlie Parrish	3,000m, 5,000m	Ashley Maguire	Mile, 3,000m
Michael Rebello	3,000m, 5,000m	Sophia McDonnell	3,000m, 5,000m
Eli Rieker	60m, 200m	Reina McMillan	400m, 4x400
Joey Simon	800m, DMR, 4x400	Alice Narciso	Mile, DMR
George Watson	3,000m, 5,000m	Julia Nielsen	800m, DMR
Ivan Westcott	800m, DMR	Lily Strauss	3,000m
		T'ya Suber	200m, 400m, 4x400