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In Ivy’s League

Photo courtesy of Bradley Athletics.

If you saw her on campus, the first thing you would probably notice about sophomore Hannah Ivy is her large smile, but what you might not know is she’s likely the fastest woman you know.

Ivy always knew she wanted to compete at the intercollegiate level. She did not compete in track until high school, but running with her father and sister were a big part of her upbringing.

Ivy is the daughter of Bradley alumnus, and former member of the women’s basketball team, Audrea Nanabray, who played in 1985-86. This played a role in her decision to come to Bradley along with academic aspects.

“It had to have a good education program, it had to have a good community vibe and it had to have a track team that was willing to give me a decent scholarship,” Ivy said.

Ivy is one of five female sprinters on the Bradley track team and the sophomore has already left her mark on the program. After only a season and a half at Bradley, Ivy ranks in the top-10 in Bradley’s history for every distance she ran indoor. She ranks second in her preferred 400-meter distance both indoor and outdoor. She also ranks sixth and eighth in the 60-meter and 200-meter runs indoors.

In the program record book, Ivy holds the second-lowest and fifth-lowest 4×400 and 4×100 relay times in school history outdoor. Indoors, she holds the school’s fifth-lowest distance medley relay time, helping win the program’s first title in that category during the 2019 season.

While breaking sprinting records at Bradley, Ivy is also a resident adviser. This semester she is the RA on the third floor of Harper Hall. She said scheduling and time management is essential to managing those tasks along with school work in English education.

“[RAs] are here help out when we are needed,” she said. “There’s going to be times when you are like, ‘Dang, I just stayed up until 4 a.m. for this issue,’ but it does not happen often.”

Ivy believes her personality bodes well for this type of task.

“I have always been a mediator in my friend group so it comes pretty natural,” she said. “I give advice at first and if they need me to do more, I will do more.”

At Glenbard North High School in the Chicago suburbs, Ivy earned team MVP, all-conference, all-state and academic all-conference accolades. This caught the eye of coach Darren Gauson who deemed her worthy of a scholarship.

“I thought she showed great potential,” Gauson said. “We really wanted to expand on the sprints and she had a phenomenal freshman year.”

When mentioning some of the qualities Ivy possesses, Gauson’s list was long. He mentioned work ethic, toughness, involuntary humor, leadership and her ability to get along with the whole team. Those are some of the reasons why she is loved by her teammates and coaching staff according to him.

“I love having her on the team,” Gauson said.

Hannah Ivy has strived for excellence in every aspect of life at Bradley according to Gauson. He believes Ivy has the potential to literally run away with every indoor and outdoor school record.

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