Lobo Track & Field/Cross Country Adds Four Transfers
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M – The New Mexico track and field/cross country program announced Friday the addition of four transfers. All four are transferring from Bradley, where they competed for new Lobo head coach Darren Gauson when he was at the school.
Joining the Lobo women’s cross country and track and field teams are Nicola Jansen, Sophia McDonnell, Peyton Schieppe and Tyler Schwartz. All four helped the Braves win the 2022 Missouri Valley cross country title last fall.
Nicola Jansen (Pretoria, South Africa) is a rising junior who established herself as the top distance runner in the Missouri Valley Conference the past two seasons. The 2022 Missouri Valley cross country champion, she is the Bradley record holder at both the 5k and 6k distances. In 2022 and 2023, she repeated as the conference’s indoor champion in both the 3000m and 5000m, setting the meet record in both events. In 2021, she was the Missouri Valley Freshman of the Year in cross country, finishing third in the conference meet.
Sophia McDonnell (Geneva, Ill.) comes to UNM as a graduate student after four years at Bradley. She has earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors in cross country in each of the past three seasons after three straight ninth-place finishes at the conference meet. In 2019, she was the MVC Freshman of the Year in cross country. In 2021, she set the Bradley school record in the 3000m steeplechase, qualifying for the NCAA Preliminaries in the event.
Peyton Schieppe (O’Fallon, Ill.) transfers to New Mexico after a standout freshman season at Bradley in 2022-23. The Missouri Valley Conference freshman of the year in both cross country and indoor track & field last season, she finished fourth at the MVC cross country championship, while being a member of Bradley’s MVC championship DMR at the indoor meet. During the outdoor season, she won conference title in the 5000m and set the Bradley school record in the event at the NCAA Preliminaries.
Tyler Schwartz (Auburn, Ind.) will be a graduate student at UNM after competing in parts of the last five seasons at Bradley. A three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference honoree in cross country, she finished third at last year’s conference meet. She was the 2018 MVC Freshman of the Year in cross country. In 2019, she had a sixth-place finish in the 5000m at the MVC indoor meet.