This past weekend, Bradley track and field finished their indoor regular season at the Iowa Open with more notable performances.
In the women’s 60-meter hurdles, senior Kyra Koontz set a new school record, improved her personal best from 8.88 to 8.61 and took fourth to avoid elimination. In the final women’s 60m hurdles, Koontz took sixth place in a tight finish with a 9.18.
Koontz’s coaches were pleased with the improvements that she has made throughout the indoor season.
“I was really excited for Kyra Koontz,” head coach Andrew Carlson said. “We’ve tried to take a real strong approach with the sprints, hurdles and jumps this year, so to see Kyra drop from 8.88 to 8.61 is phenomenal. To launch herself into the top five in the MVC going into the conference meet was huge.”
Freshman Jaela Pierson set her new personal best in the women’s 60m to take third in the event, finishing in 7.85.
Senior Sierra Bryant took fourth in the women’s 200m. In the women’s 400m, sophomore Hope Rajlich took home fifth and in the women’s mile, sophomore Julia de la Piedra Sitjas ran a 5:16.95, also finishing fifth.
In the men’s 60m, freshman Angelo Echols ran 7.49 to take 10th, and in the men’s 200m, freshman Roman Lewis finished ninth with a time of 23.83.
In the men’s 800m, the Braves took control of the podium, with freshman Kaden Kingsmith taking first with his 1:56.43, senior Mason Jones taking second with a time of 1:56.72 and sophomore Ivan Westcott finishing right behind at 1:56.77. Kingsmith had to make a comeback as he found himself in sixth place through the first 200m of the race, but he climbed back to take the gold.
Senior Aidan Donohue finished ninth in the men’s mile to finish the meet with a 4:15.49.
While the rest of the team was competing in Iowa, senior Julia Nielsen competed in the Swedish National Championships in her home country.
“It was really fun, going home to see my family and also be able to do so well at the competition,” Nielsen said. “I feel it’s good now as we are coming up to conference.”
In the women’s 800m, Nielsen took home a silver medal with a time of 2:05.89. She also nabbed a bronze medal after finishing 4:19.66 in the women’s 1500m.
Nielsen has had a great season so far, and her teammates and coaches could not be happier about her success at the Swedish National Championships. Carlson says there could even be a Summer Games in her future.
“It’s very special to have someone of this caliber within our group,” Carlson said. “So for her to have the opportunity to go home and race in national championships is one, really important for us as a group because we want to support those things, but two, to not only go home but to win two medals is unbelievable, especially in an Olympic year where points matter and times matter and to put herself in that position only bolsters your chances of seeing her this summer in Paris.”
With the completion of the Iowa Open, the Braves finished the indoor regular season, and Carlson is thrilled with how his first year as head coach of the indoor track and field season went.
“Our biggest focus this indoor season has been getting top 10 marks in Bradley’s school history,” Carlson said. “We’ve done a lot this indoor season, it has been a success in that way, and now for a conference meet your work kind of culminates in one moment to see how you fair up against everyone else.”
“Times go out the window; it’s just about competing, and I think we have some very competitive people here. I am excited to see what they do when it’s not just thinking about time,” Carlson added.
The Braves will head to the Missouri Valley Conference Championships on Feb. 23-24, hoping to see some of their athletes qualify for a trip to nationals.
