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Ward making mark in first season on the Hilltop

Freshman Michael Ward races in the NCAA Cross Country Regional Meet at Newman Golf Course last year. Ward is setting Bradley records already despite this being his first year on campus. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
Freshman Michael Ward races in the NCAA Cross Country Regional Meet at Newman Golf Course last year. Ward is setting Bradley records already despite this being his first year on campus. Photo by Garth Shanklin.

Freshman runner Michael Ward has spent most of Bradley’s track and field season making the 5,000 meter race look like a walk in the park. The 3,973 miles Ward had to travel to get to Bradley, however, were anything but an easy stroll.

Ward came to the Braves from Cardiff, New Wales in the United Kingdom. Initially, Ward ran to stay in shape, but it soon became something more than just exercise.

“Originally, it was just for fitness purposes,” Ward said. “I started off like every British kid did, I ended up playing football [soccer] and rugby. It started when I went to high school. As I progressed, I got older, and I started zoning in on one sport, and it ended up being running.”

It seemed to be a good decision for Ward. In 2013, Ward was tabbed as one of just six runners to represent the U.K. in the World Cross Country Games in Poland. Ward ran the 8,000 meter race at the event, placing 51 out of 113 runners and leading the U.K. to a ninth place finish. Ward noted that moment was an important one in his career.

“That was a big step for me,” Ward said. “It kind of cemented me to stay with running and pursue that as an athletic career. It was a big honor, and it was definitely the highlight of my athletic career so far.”

As it turns out, it would actually be the first step in Ward’s collegiate career. After the event, Ward was heavily recruited by schools in the United States.

“I started getting emails and other things from American universities asking if I fancied coming over here to study,” Ward said. “That kind of triggered the idea of ‘maybe I should consider this.’ Bradley didn’t originally contact me; I ended up speaking to the Alabama coach, who came up to recruit a lot of Welsh female athletes since they didn’t have a men’s team. He looked at the offers I had and said, ‘Can I add a few more in?’ Bradley was one of those he added in.”

In the end, it was former head coach Marc Burns and his coaching staff that lured Ward to Peoria.
“When I spoke to the coaches here, they seemed the most enthusiastic,” Ward said. “It seemed the most of what I wanted from my experience over here. I had to go off of what I heard on the Internet and word of mouth. It was a gut feeling, it wasn’t the most obvious choice.”

But it was the choice Ward made, and as part of his preparation for coming to Peoria, he did a little bit of homework.

“I ended up watching this tourism video on YouTube of Peoria, and it seemed like one of the best cities going,” Ward said. “I was like, ‘That’s amazing that I’m going there.’ It [didn’t] quite [meet] my expectations originally. It took a while to settle in. I’m from a fairly big city back home and it took a while to adjust, both on a social side and athletic side.”

Head coach Willy Wood was not involved with recruiting Ward to the Braves, as Wood himself arrived on the Hilltop at about the same time Ward did. However, it did not take long for Wood to discover Ward’s passion for running.

“You can sense his seriousness right away,” Wood said. “In one of our first conversations, he articulated a pretty high-end goal he hopes to accomplish while he was here, so I could tell it was going to be a pleasure to work with him.”

Ward may only be in his first year at Bradley, but he has lofty goals. It helps that he already has titles in the 5,000 meters and the 1,500 meters at Bradley, in addition to several school records.

“I’d like to make nationals,” Ward said. “I’d say with some of the times I’ve posted already I have a good chance at making regionals; the next step would be to make nationals. With conference coming up, it’d be nice to get amongst the medals there.”

Wood said he believes Ward could do just that and then some during his time at Bradley.

“He trains remarkably well and patient, particularly for someone in his first year running in the states,” Wood said. “He’s going to be a phenomenal runner; he’s doing a great job right now, but I think it’s the beginning of what he’s going to accomplish.”

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