April 7, 2008

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa track and field program added to its strong 2008-09 recruiting class Monday with the signing of Adreona Bradford to a National-Letter-of-Intent.

 

Bradford, who goes by the nickname A.G., has won multiple Iowa state championships while competing for Davenport North High School and is a versatile athlete who has seen success in a wide range of events. A five-time placewinner at the Iowa state outdoor championships, Bradford also has placed a total of six times in just two years of competition in the state indoor meet.

 

Most recently, Bradford won her second-consecutive state indoor championship in the 60-meter hurdles while also taking third in the 800 meters and fourth in the high jump at the A.D. Dickinson Iowa High School Indoor Track & Field Championships in March.

 

"A.G. is probably one of the most versatile athletes to come out of the state of Iowa in the last 10 years, and there probably isn't an event that she can not do," UNI associate head coach Travis Geopfert said. "She is going to be a terrific addition to our already solid multi-events crew that went 1-2-3 at the indoor conference meet this year in the pentathlon."

 

As a junior in 2007, Bradford won three individual conference titles before finishing runner-up at the Iowa state meet in the high jump and winning a Class 4A state championship in the 100-meter hurdles. Also that season, she also claimed the Drake Relays high school championship in the 100 hurdles and finished third in the high jump at the Drake Relays.

 

Indoors, Bradford claimed the 60 hurdles title, took sixth in the high jump and was part of Davenport North's fifth-place squad in the 4x800 relay as a junior.

 

During her sophomore season, Bradford took second at the Iowa state meet in the high jump, was fifth in the 100 hurdles and was part of a sixth-place finish in the 4x800.

 

Bradford holds the Davenport North record in the high jump, at 5 feet, 8 inches, and also owns school records in the 100 hurdles, shuttle hurdle relay and the 4x800. She also owns a personal best of 1:03.22 in the 400-meter hurdles, a mark set this season.

 

Also a standout in cross country, Bradford took third in Class 4A as a junior and finished eighth as a senior in 2007. She earned first team All-Mississippi Athletic Conference and first team all-district honors in each of her final two seasons.

 

Also a three-year starter in basketball, Bradford earned All-MAC honors as a junior and senior.

 

"To have an athlete of A.G.'s caliber join our program here at UNI is a great compliment to our university, our track and field team and our multi-events program," said UNI head coach and director of running programs Chris Bucknam. "Coach Geopfert is very excited to work with her, and I'm confident she is going to turn into a terrific heptathlete on both the conference and national levels."