(Pictured left to right: Jason Egli, Gail Egli, McKenzie Vradenburg, Jaykla Vradenburg, Track Coach Scott Meth, Cross Country Coach Caylon DeVaul)
WACO- McKenzie Vradenburg will continue running at the collegiate level after signing her letter of intention to attend Truman State University and join the Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field team. Vradenburg will also be majoring in Criminal Justice. She talked about all of the factors that went into her decision,
“I actually like their campus and I like how it wasn’t too far from home. I was looking for something that was far enough where I felt like I can’t just go back every weekend, but also close enough that if I want to come and visit I can. They have an indoor and outdoor track, which I think I’ll be able to use that a lot with my training and everything and I just met the team and I just really bonded with them and I really enjoyed the atmosphere the team was giving me.”
Vradenburg has left her mark in the history book of WACO as she touts a school record in the 200 meter dash with a time of 28.55 seconds, which she set this year beating her previous mark of 29.70 seconds from a year ago. She is a conference champion in several events, and she qualified for state last season as she competed in two events. Vradenburg finished 23rd in the 4×100 meter relay and 22nd in the 4×200 meter relay at the state tournament last season.
WACO will be hosting the state qualifying meet this Thursday, May 11th, and Vradenburg was quite candid about her feeling heading into the meet,
“I’m a little nervous, I’m kind of excited to try and go out and compete. Our distance medley has been doing really good this year. So, we’re going to try and see if we can PR (personal record) again in that and our 4×100, 4×200 we’re doing all right in that and we’re going to see if we get better at that too.”
To qualify for state in Class 1A, the top place winner in each event plus the next 14 best performances statewide will advance to the state meet. If there are ties, the highest qualifying meet place winner will be the qualifier. There will be no more than 24 qualifiers in any event.
Vradenburg was smiling from ear to ear when talking about her next step,
“I’m super excited for college and I feel like it’s just going to be great for me. I’m so excited to go out and meet new people. I love doing new things, and being in a new school, new atmosphere, meeting new friends I think that’s going to be really great for me.”
The Bulldogs recently competed in their conference meet and brought home Conference Champions and National qualifiers.