Bradley Qualifies Six for 2022 NCAA West Preliminary

A program-record five Bradley women will start the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville

2022 NCAA Outdoor Track West Preliminary Qualifiers

NCAA West Preliminary Information

Bobby Parker, Sr. Associate AD for Communications and Event & Facility Operations Track & Field 5/19/2022 1:38:00 PM

PEORIA, IL – The Bradley Track and Field program once again will send a healthy contingent of runners to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship West Preliminary, but the 2022 group will be led by a program-best five women's competitors, according to the list of postseason qualifiers released by the NCAA Thursday afternoon.

Sophomore Tiana LoStracco will be the first Brave to take the track at the University of Arkansas by qualifying in the Women's 1,500m based off her career-best run of 4:22.84 in April at the Illini Invitational. The first-round of the Women's 1,500m during the West Preliminary is scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm May 26 at John McConnell Field. Boasting the third-best 1,500m time in program history, LoStracco is making a return trip to the NCAA West Preliminary after qualifying in the Women's 800m last year.

Sophomore sisters Julia Nielsen and Wilma Nielsen both qualified for the Women's 800m, which is slated to begin at 7:50 pm May 26. Julia Nielsen set the Missouri Valley Conference Championship meet record with a career-best 2:04.79 last week. Wilma Nielsen, who owns the school and MVC record in the 800m, finished second to sister Julia at the MVC Championship last week with a time of 2:06.82. This sisters have combined for the top six individual performances, as well as 13 of the top 20, in the Women's 800m in Bradley history. Both competed in the 800m during the 2021 West Preliminary with Wilma Nielsen advancing to the national championship meet.

Junior Charlie Parrish will hit the track May 27 by competing in the Men's 3,000m Steeplechase. Parrish was the runner-up in the event at last week's MVC Championship, posting a career-best 8:51.25 for the fourth-best time in program history.

With LoStracco and the Nielsen sisters potentially returning to action for the quarterfinal rounds of their respective events, Bradley's two other West Preliminary qualifiers will compete May 28. Sophomore Sophia McDonnell will compete in the Women's 3,000m Steeplechase for the second consecutive year, while freshman Nicola Jansen will compete in the final race of the 4-day event, the Women's 5,000m.

McDonnell was the runner-up in the 3,000m Steeplechase at last week's Valley championship, posting a school-record 10:15.45. The 2021 MVC Cross Country Freshman of the Year, Jansen posted the second-best time (16:12.12) in program history in the Women's 5,000m at the Raleigh Relays, a performance topped only by Hall-of-Famer Mary Ellen Hill's run (16:08.72) at the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Student-athletes who advance through the East and West Preliminary rounds in their respective events will compete in the 2022 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships June 8-11 at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.

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