Bradley track and field’s final weekend of the indoor regular season ended with a few welcome surprises.
Both teams competed at the Alex Wilson Invite in South Bend, Indiana. All the runners competed in the distance medley relay (DMR) events.
The women’s team was the main event. Although they finished seventh out of eight, they set a program and conference record.
The team of juniors Trixie Wraith and Kaitlyn Sheppard, senior Amiyah Davis and graduate senior Abigail Hancock finished in 11 minutes and 14.28 seconds. This broke the program record set in 2024 by over 16 seconds, and the previous Missouri Valley Conference record set back in 2009 by Missouri State was just over 10 seconds slower than the time run at South Bend.
“I think all of us are in really good shape right now, so it’s kind of the perfect time to see what we could do when we put it all together,” Hancock said. “It was a really good opportunity to get into that meet, and I think we put it all together at the right time.”
“I think it was exciting to get that group of four together and get them into a race where they are going for time,” head coach Andrew Carlson added. “It’s something we don’t always get to do, because typically we’ll only do that at the conference meet, so to have those four girls come together as a force and break the conference record was just awesome.”
The men’s DMR team, consisting of freshman Jamie Phillips, sophomores Kaden Kingsmith and Jaxson Copelin and fifth-year senior Jack Crull, finished 12th out of 13. However, their time of 9:41.31 was the second-fastest ever run by a Bradley team in the event and their fastest time since 2019.
Other Braves traveled to Normal to compete in the Redbird Tune-Up, which provided some more great performances.
Freshman Isaac Lind had the most impressive outing, finishing first in the men’s 400-meter race with a time of 51.59 seconds.
Senior Andriana Erotocritou and redshirt junior Julia de la Piedra Sitjas finished second in the 800-meter and mile race, respectively. Rounding out the podium finishers, senior Syeira Campbell placed third in the women’s 400-meter, crossing the finish line in just over a minute.
As the regular season closes, the outdoor meets will soon begin. Coach Carlson explained how important their recent meets will be as they transition from indoor to outdoor.
“I think going into the outdoor season, this should be a good chapter to close this indoor season and go out and win some individual titles and win some relays and then carry that momentum back into the outdoor season as we prepare for what’s going to be a long [ride],” Carlson said.
Bradley’s next endeavor will be at the MVC Indoor Championships in Chicago, which starts on Sunday. Going into one of the most important meets of the year, the team knows what they have to do.
“I just want to keep sharp and keep fresh so I can be ready to compete,” Hancock said.
