Saturday, February 13, 2010

Senior distance runner Alyssa Bradford (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) recorded two of Valparaiso’s five top-ten finishes Friday night as the Crusader women finished in tenth place at the Chicagoland Championships in Romeoville, Ill.

Valpo tallied 13 points on the meet, finishing tenth out of the 20 competing teams.  North Central University took the team title with 141 points.

Bradford finished in third place in each of her two events Friday.  The senior took third in the 800m run with a time of 2:22.29, and duplicated her third-place showing in the mile run, crossing the line in 5:22.92.  Two other Crusader distance runners also earned top-ten placements, as Whitney Bowman (Portage, Ind./Portage [Purdue]) crossed the line in 11:03.47 in the 3,000m run, good for ninth place.  Freshman Haley Kerlin (Rensselaer, Ind./Rensselaer) finished right behind Bowman in tenth place with a time of 11:16.88.

On the infield, freshman Gianna Mirabelli (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) posted an eighth-place showing in the pole vault, clearing 10’1”, while Kara Connelly (Sugar Grove, Ill./West Aurora) placed 11th in the same event.  Ini Umana (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) also registered an 11th place finish in the weight throw with a toss of 44’3 ½”.

Valparaiso returns to indoor action next Saturday as the Crusaders compete at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind.  The meet is slated for a 10 a.m. CST start.