Record-breaking performances and more high-placing finishes highlighted the Joe Walker Invitational for the Bradley track and field team on April 8 and 9 in Oxford, Mississippi.
The events, held at the Ole Miss Track and Field Complex, included seven SEC institutions and Missouri Valley Conference rival Southern Illinois and future MVC rival Belmont.
“We were hoping to go down to Mississippi for some great weather, but it was pretty chilly and windy,” sophomore Max Dieterich said. “But once you’re in the race, you don’t really feel the weather that much.”
Eight personal bests and a strong individual performance in the men’s 5,000 meters wrapped up day one of the competition. The second and final day was followed with the same school record being broken twice by junior Hannah Ivy and seven more personal bests for Bradley.
“[Ivy] wasn’t a star recruit in high school, but she has worked diligently and with a great attitude,” Bradley head coach Darren Gauson said. “To break that record and to do it against SEC, Big 12 [and] Big East competition, I’m really happy for Hannah.”
Ivy would break the 400 meters record twice, first in the individual competition and later that day at the 4x400m relay.
“I was really tired that day and I told myself that I would do my best; I trusted my training,” Ivy said. “I know I could not have gotten through the weekend without my team and my family.”
Ivy clocked in at 54.86 seconds for the best time in program history and a third-place finish out of 31 other runners. Freshman Amiyah Davis ran the third-best time in program history, crossing the finish line at 55.47 to finish fifth at 400 meters.
At the 4×400 relay, Ivy and Davis would race alongside sophomore duo T’ya Suber and Reina McMillan and set the program record, finishing with a time of 3:43.40.
“We’ve been working a lot at starting those 50 to 100 meters strong, and not sitting in the middle of the race and to keep accelerating,” Ivy said. “There’s some type of physics in there that makes sense, but I’m not a physics person.”
Freshman Michael Rebello, a men’s 5,000 meters runner, placed fourth out of 41 racers with a final time of 14:14.06. Not far behind was senior Alec Danner, who finished eighth with 14:22.31. Rebello’s performance was the sixth-best in program history, and Danner’s the eighth-best.
Sophomore Sophia McDonnell, while being 10 seconds off her school-record run from last year, was still able to record the third-best time in program history in the women’s steeplechase. In the men’s steeplechase, junior Charlie Parrish finished third out of 14 competitors, as he crossed the finish line with a time of 8:58.92.
Sophomore Kyra Koontz registered a personal best and a third-place finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. For the second time this spring, sophomore Julia Nielsen lowered her personal best in the 800 meters with a time of 2:05.58, the best in a collegiate race for Bradley and finished fifth among 52 competitors.
Among the men in the 800 meters, Dieterich placed 14th with 1:50.57 out of 50 runners. Fellow sophomore Will Smith finished in the top 20 with a time of 1:51.61.
“I was a bit disappointed because I had hoped to beat my personal best in the 1,500 meters, but unfortunately while I was in the race, I got tripped and fell while I was taking the lead,” Dieterich said. “It’s a little disappointing, but we still have a lot of races to go.”
The Braves will look to keep their momentum going as the postseason gets closer. Three Braves are in California today for the Bryan Clay Invitational and the Mt. SAC Relays. Another 24 Braves will head to Normal on Saturday for the Redbird Challenge, hosted by Illinois State.
