Trojans junior Kenedi Bradley sets school record in 200 meters and joins seniors Ava Kontos and Kaylee Dade and freshman Addison Pack in setting school record in 4x100 relay

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Tuesday’s conditions lined up at a home meet with Merrillville and Portage for Chesterton junior sprinter Kenedi Bradley to take aim Tuesday at records she had come so close to matching recently.
The air, much warmer than the weather bot predicted, an equally talented opponent, and three fast teammates left only one ingredient missing to optimize the chances of records tumbling.
Something needed to bruise Bradley’s pride for everything to make the record book more vulnerable than ever. Portage senior sprinter Tiara Gray took care of that by edging Bradley in the 100 meters, 12.06 to 12.07.
Bradley said she didn’t know whether she had won or finished second until track announcer Steve Kearney counted down the finishers in the race. After informing the audience that Trojans senior Ava Kontos finished third in 12.68, Kearney announced that Bradley finished second and in so doing threw gasoline on Bradley’s competitive flames.
Bradley and Gray would race twice more, first as the anchors of their schools’ 4x100 relay squads, and then in the 200 meters. Chesterton school records fell in both of those races.
“It put something in me,” Bradley said of losing to Gray. “I’m very competitive. I hate losing, so that just sparked something.”
Might that have played a part in Bradley running her way into the school record book twice in one meet?
“I think it definitely did,” Bradley said.
Seniors Kontos and Kaylee Dade and freshman Addison Pack joined Bradley in setting the school record in 48.47, which was good enough to edge Portage by one-hundredth of a second (48.48).
The Trojans claimed a record that had stood for 18 years. Bailey Huddleston, Lena Raffin, Megan Erminger and Katie McColly ran a 48.50 in 2007.
“I got the baton ahead of her and then I just ran my butt off,” Bradley said of hitting the finish line before Gray this time.
Bradley saved her best for her last race, the 200 meters. Camryn Dunn set the Chesterton record in 2022 with a 25.37. Bradley ran a 24.90. Gray took second place with a 25.11. So, Bradley and teammates weren’t going to win the 4x100 without setting a school record and the same can be said for Bradley in the 200 meters. Credit Gray with an assist on both records.
Senior day was another big day for the team as well. The Trojans defeated Merrillville 98-34 and beat Portage 102-30.
Other event winners for Chesterton were junior Gretta McCrovitz in the 400 meters (1:00.04), senior Veronica Wilgocki in the 800 (2:27.58), senior Luciana Raffin in the pole vault (9-0), Dade in the long jump (16-10, (edging classmate Haiely Geiser on a tiebreaker), senior Liz St. Marie in the shot put (36-3.5, personal best) and senior Autumn Spencer in the discus (103-10.5).
The Trojans 4x800 relay also finished first, running a stunningly impressive time of 9:37.94, considering that Wilgocki, the anchor, was preceded by a trio of freshmen: Hannah Haring, Taylor Kisic and Paige Clancy.
Even as impressive as that was, the sprinters carried the day.
“I am super excited,” Bradley said of the 4x100 record falling. “We were really hoping to break it this year.”
Kontos got the Trojans off to a good start and Dade and Pack kept the momentum going so that Bradley didn’t have to stage one of her patented comebacks, which would have been difficult against a runner as talented as Gray.
“I knew that we were getting a lot better and last year we never even broke 49, so I knew at some point this year we were going to break 49 and get into the 48 range,” Kontos said. “I thought it was going to be later in the year that we were going break the record, so it kind of came as a little bit of a surprise. I’m very happy that we did it.”
Baton exchanges always are key to success in such a short race.
“It took us a minute to get our handoffs down and today we had probably the cleanest handoffs we’ve had all season,” Bradley said. “Kaylee never ran it before this year, and I feel like adding her helped us a lot. She’s a very good runner. I feel like we all ran our hearts out and ran as fast as we could. Perfect day to do it.”
Chesterton coach Lindsay Moskalick told Bradley that their handoffs could have been better, which makes for exciting possibilities in the postseason if they can in fact improve the exchanges.
“They could be better, but they were good today,” Bradley said.
Said Kontos: “They were good enough for today, but for postseason, they’re going to be even better.”
All four girls said they enjoy practicing handoffs. Kontos added, “They’re always really good in practice. The meets, with nerves and stuff, it’s harder.”
New to the Trojans’ 4x100 team, Dade and Pack mentioned handoffs as the area that brought the most stress initially. Pack said she has improved the most this season in blasting out of the starter blocks in the open 100 and on baton exchanges in the relay. Which is more difficult to learn?
“Probably handoffs,” Pack said. “I feel like starts, it’s just you, and with handoffs you really have to work with your teammates. I feel like overall it’s gotten a lot better. I’ve learned not to go early anymore. That was my big issue. I’ve learned that you have to be patient, really wait for it. Be patient and watch the mark.”
Pack wouldn’t trade her third position in the relay for anything.
“I love running the curve,” she said. “I don’t know what it is. I just love it. It’s my favorite thing.”
Dade said she is more comfortable all the time as part of something new to her as a senior.
“There were a lot of nerves because this was my first time doing it and I was really nervous about how I was going to fit in, but I really love my partners and we’ve grown closer over the years, so it’s really fun to do it,” said Dade, who also runs in the 4x400 relay and long jumps, but no longer runs the open 400.
As for what makes Pack, running in middle school races a year ago, good enough to join such a talented veteran group, Bradley gave the best answer: “She’s Addison Pack.”
Enough said.
The sprinters were coming off a record-setting day last Friday at the Princess Relays in Mishawaka.
The 4x200 relay and the 800-meter sprint medley relay are races run indoors and at weekend invitationals in the spring, but aren’t part of regular outdoor meets, so they don’t appear on the record board on the wall next to the football stadium concession stand. But the coach keeps track of the records.
Kontos, Dade, McCrovitz and Bradley set a school record in the 4x200 with a 1:42.90, breaking the mark of 1:45.25 set a year ago by Kontos, Sydney Morris, Dade and Bradley.
Kontos, Dade, Bradley and junior Aubrey Bamber set the school record in the sprint medley relay, which starts with a pair of 100-meter legs, followed by a 200 and then a 400. They ran a 1:49.73, breaking the old mark of 1:50.37.
Chesterton won the Princess Relays and broke a third school record. Sophomore Patricia Ozimek, senior Aubri Pulsoni, junior Lux Mountford and sophomore Harper Russell ran a 1:07.15 in the 4x100 shuttle hurdle relay, breaking the old record of 1:07.67.
Senior Hailey Geiser won the long jump at the meet with a mark of 16-7.