Kenedi Bradley, one of Chesterton’s all-time great athletes, achieves career highlight on final day by becoming the state 100-meter champion, triumphing over a stiff headwind and a talented field in Indianapolis

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Kenedi Bradley made the final day of her spectacularly entertaining four-year career for Chesterton her best at the state track and field meet in Indianapolis on Friday.
Showing a packed stadium at North Central High in Indianapolis the definition of acceleration, Bradley earned the title of “fastest girl in Indiana,” defeating a stiff headwind and a talented pack of competitors to win the championship in the 100 meters at the state meet.
Bradley appeared to be a step behind the leader Emma Walter of Fairfield at the midway point, then she floored it, found a higher speed and tore to the finish line, pulling away from the pack.
“This is going to sound really bad but my starts are not the greatest,” Bradley said. “I’m always one of the worst ones out of the block, but my acceleration is good and that’s where I get it.”
Good is an understatement akin to saying Northwest Indiana is excited about landing the Bears.
Walter couldn’t hang with Bradley’s higher gear and Evansville North jet De’Janay Lane, a great closer in her own right, was too far back when Bradley kicked into overdrive and Lane’s fast push at the end fell short. Bradley won it in 11.94, Lane passed Walter for second (12.12) and Walter finished third (12.15). Later in the meet, Lane would win the 200 meters in 24.30. Bradley finished sixth in 25.11.
Bradley wasn’t crazy about her start but it didn’t take her out of contention.
“It was a little past halfway,” Bradley said of when she took the lead. “I felt it. I felt it for sure.”
And the lively spectators all saw it, they saw it for sure.
“I was like, ‘I’m going! What is happening? What is happening?’ It was a good feeling,” Bradley said.
As her right foot tapped the finish line, Bradley broke into a priceless, open-mouth expression, similar to that of the emoji for shock.
In her case, she wasn’t so much shocked as overcome with the feeling of “I did it. I actually did it,” words spoken by her expression, not her voice.
Still, she had no way of knowing for certain that she had won.
“I saw a girl (Lane) out of the corner of my eye and I was like, ‘Oh no, did she get me?’ Then one of the officials (pointing at Bradley) said it was me: ‘It was? No way.’”
Yes way.
It was the culmination of a career in which she showed laser focus, remained humble enough to realize experienced experts in their fields knew better than she did about how to stay on the improvement path.
In doing so, Bradley became the third Chesterton girl to win an IHSAA state title in an individual event. Lisa Nauman was the first as the discus champion in 1981. Katey Parsons was the second, winning the 800 meters in 1993.
The shortest of all outdoor track races, the 100 can be the most difficult to predict because the margin for error is so slight. A bad start can sabotage the effort. Any number of factors including an untimely injury, a growth spurt from one year to the next that curbs speed, maybe a counterproductive change in training methods brought on by listening to the wrong voices can be all it takes to throw a runner off course.
Bradley avoided all that, other than a serious offseason injury, by keeping it simple and consistently going after it hard.
Her injury, a severe ankle sprain came in AAU basketball heading into her senior year. She walked in a boot for a prolonged period and decided to give up basketball, even though she was the team’s best player for three seasons, a three-time All-DAC selection, and had a realistic shot at setting the school’s career scoring record. Having committed over the summer to running track at Butler University, Bradley wanted to fully heal and pour everything into track. Two years earlier, she was on the brink of giving up track.
“In my senior speech I admitted it: I almost didn’t run my sophomore year,” Bradley said. “I wanted to focus on basketball. That was really it. But then the roles reversed.”
As long as she was going to continue sprinting, she went all in.
She let Chesterton head girls track coach Lindsay Moskalick map out her workouts on the track and did them without complaint, without paying for a second opinion. Bradley knew the answer to the puzzle of how to keep getting better was right there in front of her in her coach’s plan, free of charge.
She let Chesterton strength and conditioning coach Matt Wagner set the course in the weight room and put maximum effort into that end of becoming faster. She could have made the common mistake of thinking if you pay for something, such as the services of a private personal trainer, it must be better than what’s free. She joined classmate Zarek Sierazy, who runs today at the boys state meet on the same track in the 4x800 relay, for 5 a.m. workouts at the YMCA, keeping Wagner abreast of everything.
During his decade at NCAA Division II power UIndy, Wagner helped countless college runners become way faster, so again, the answer for Bradley was right there in front of her, free of charge.
Consequently, the girl now known as the fastest runner in Indiana, became better every year. She placed fifth at state in the 100 as a sophomore, runner-up as a junior, champion as a senior. In the 200 meters, she placed fifth as a junior, sixth as a senior.
This being her third state meet and feeling nothing but great about how she prepared helped Bradley remain confident: “I had a little bit of nerves, but it wasn’t anything crazy. I knew I was ready.”
She shared what made her so sure of that: “Coach M and Coach Wagner for lifting.”
Bradley considered Moskalick a huge factor in her success, during the preparation leading up to meets and on meet days.
“It’s the workouts that she puts us through,” Bradley said. “And her motivation is amazing. Every single race. She gets me out of my own head by talking to me. She gave me a pep talk when I was warming up. She was like, ‘This is your last one, make it count!’”
Part of what Moskalick told her soon-to-be state champion as she warmed up on a road leading out of the parking lot on the other side of a chain link fence from the team tent was, “You’re Kenedi Bradley. Let’s get this done!”
Said Bradley: “It definitely gave me a bunch of motivation.”
So, she was as confident as she could be but at the same time had the utmost respect for her competitors.
“I don’t know. I just wasn’t expecting it,” Bradley said. “I wanted it. I wanted it really, really bad. But those girls are fast!
And Bradley was faster, too fast to let the whipping headwind derail her.
“That wind was brutal,” she said. “It got me, for sure. I can’t wait to see my time that they deduct because of the wind.”
Might her power and strength might have equipped her better for the wind than in the case of some of her competitors?
“I guess,” she said. “It sure didn’t feel good in the moment.”
Shortly after stepping off the track, Bradley shared a high five with Chesterton athletic director Jeff Hamstra, whose role on the IHSAA board of directors gave him access to the track’s infield and enabled him to hang two medals around Bradley’s neck. Then the fastest girl in Indiana and in the history of Chesterton turned to find Moskalick and her parents in the stands, raised both arms, waved and flashed a smile so bright they could have seen it from miles away.
“She knew what she wanted to do in the 100 and she went after it and it was awesome to watch that,” Moskalick said.
The highly respected track coach who starred at Chesterton and then as a distance runner at Indiana University, explained how she prepared Bradley.
“It’s just mapping out the training for all of them and figuring out what their strengths and weaknesses are,” she said. “Most importantly, sticking to a routine, and preaching to them the importance of sleep, nutrition, hydration.”
Moskalick went to school on Bradley’s past seasons.
“This year we learned from last year in particular that she didn’t really hydrate and eat enough in between her events,” Moskalick said. “And we made sure to do that between each event. A little snack, a little water, a little stretch, a little ice. We had a process for her so she was prepared for all six races today.”
The six races, in order: The 100 trials, the 200 trials, the 100 final, the anchor leg of 4x100 relay immediately after her medal ceremony, the 200 final, the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay, an event she added as a senior.
“It was definitely a tough schedule and she’s not the only one in the state who has that,” Moskalick said. “She did a fantastic job. I mean, she’s state champ in the 100 meters! She did great in the 4x1. She did great in everything. I know in the 200 she wanted to finish up there but it was her fifth race. I think she executed it to the best of her ability.”
Bradley holds the school record in the 100 (11.71 accomplished last season and this season at the Portage regional both times) and the 200 (24.66 at the Portage regional junior year). She ran a personal best 24.37 at the New Balance nationals in Philadelphia after her junior year.
“I think going into this season she was thinking the 200 was going to be her stronger event because of what she did in nationals, but then she saw how she was competing in the 100 and the 200. She did fantastic,” Moskalick said.
Bradley wore two medals around her neck at the end of the day, but felt better about one than the other.
“I’m a little disappointed,” Bradley said of her 200 race. “I feel like it could have gone better, but my legs are definitely tired.”
She moved the team’s 4x100 relay way up in the standings, a race that started with freshman Lilly Duracz, sophomore Allie Anderson and junior Avah Rajski. The foursome finished 12th in 48.41, with a great finishing sprint from Bradley.
Seniors Gretta McCrovitz, Aubrey Bamber, sophomore Aisha Lewis and Bradley finished 19th in the 4x400, clocked in 4:03.98.
And that was the last moment of Bradley’s career as an all-time great Chesterton athlete, on a day she finished with her greatest achievement: the state championship in the 100 meters.
A replay of the race can be found on Youtube by typing: “Indiana’s fastest female is Kenedi Bradley.”