Kenedi Bradley places second in 100, fifth with a PR in 200, and helps 4x100 relay team break own record at state track and field meet

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The fastest girl in Chesterton history, Kenedi Bradley was the second-fastest Hoosier at the state track and field meet Saturday at North Central High in Indianapolis.
Only Fort Wayne Carroll sophomore Nadia Ford, state champion in the 100 meters and 200 meters had a faster day than Bradley.
Ford, running in Lane 5, right next to Bradley (Lane 4), was clocked in 11.68 in the 100, and Bradley ran her second-fastest time with an 11.75, topped only by the 11.71 she ran at the Portage regional with a tailwind helping.
Bradley was happy with everything about her own performance and marveled at Ford’s speed.
“She gapped people in the 60 at the indoor state, which I didn’t even know you could do,” Bradley said of Ford. “She’s very, very fast.”
So is Bradley.
She was the best girls basketball player from the day she started high school and became markedly better every season. Bradley has followed a similar path in track. She placed fifth at the state last season in the 100 and did not run the 200 meters past the DAC meet then.
Now she has the school record in both events. She broke her own record in the 200 at state with a fifth-place finish and a 24.66. Bradley also had a terrific run anchoring the 4x100, helping teammates break the school record for the third time this season. Seniors Ava Kontos and Kaylee Dade and freshman Addison Pack didn’t make it to the medal stand reserved for the top nine but ran a 48.07 for 12th place, shattering the school record of 48.31 from the regional that the Trojans ran with Sydney Morris in the third leg.
Chesterton tied for 15th with 13 points, all from Bradley, who scored eight points for the second-place finish in the 100 and five for fifth in the 200. She appeared to let up a step shy of the finish line in the 200, so her school record could have been even faster, but it didn’t cost her a place.
“I probably did,” Bradley said. “I didn’t do it on purpose. … I ran a good race. I ran the curve really well.”
There was nothing to second-guess about her second-place finish in the 100.
“That was probably one of my best races I’ve ever run,” Bradley said. “I had a good start. I finished through. It was a really good race.”
When it was over, Bradley said she knew she had not won it because “I saw her in front of me,” and added, “I didn’t know if I was second or third.”
Brownsburg’s Nife Ogunleye ran an 11.80 for third. Zionsville’s Omema Anyanwu was fourth with an 11.93 and De’Janay Layne of Evansville North was the only other sprinter to break 12 with an 11.95 for fifth place.
As a junior, Bradley’s track workouts to an extent were built around her AAU basketball schedule. Her commitment to track increased as a junior after her fifth-place finish in the state meet in the 100.
“She’s always worked,” Chesterton head coach Lindsay Moskalick said. “I think after the success from last season, we talked, and she can really do this, and we wanted to give a shot at the 100 and then all offseason and going into this season we talked about we’re doing the 100, the 200 and the 4x1, and she came, and she did exactly what we thought she could do.”
Bradley passed a fast runner who had a significant lead on her when she received the baton in the 4x100.
“Kenedi loves to chase, and that’s one of the great things about her,” Moskalick said.
Even has hard as she worked this season to lower her times, Bradley thinks she can get even faster before graduating.
“I’m not done yet,” she said. “I’m excited for next year because every year I’ve grown, so let’s hope next year is going to be even better. I’m really excited to see what I can do next year.”
But first, she planned to rest.
“It’s been a long day, so my legs are definitely going to suffer for it tomorrow,” she said.
Chesterton also had its 4x800 relay at state for the sixth year in a row. Freshmen Hannah Haring, Taylor Kisic and Paige Clancy ran the first two legs, senior Veronica Wilgocki the anchor. They finished 21st with a 9:49.60. haring’s 2:24.8 was the fastest split, followed by Wilgocki (2:26.27).
Two Chesterton seniors made it to state in the field events. Autumn Spencer finished 25th in the discus with a 103-3 throw, and Hailey Geiser was 26th in the long jump with a 16-1.5.