INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI women's cross country and track and field programs announced the additions of five student-athletes for the 2023-2024 season. Both
Grace Bragg (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and
Laura Masoni (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) will compete in both cross country and track while the trio of
Journey Howard (New Albany, Ind./New Albany),
Paige Laffoon (Attica, Ind./Seeger) and
Shelby McGee (Catlin, Ill./Salt Fork) will compete in track and field. All four will have four seasons of eligibility, beginning this fall.
Bragg competed on Cathedral's 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams this past season, helping both advance to the IHSAA State Finals. The 4x400 group finished tenth overall at 3:59.02 and the 4x800 quartet ran a time of 9:33.44. The 4x400 group won the Lawrence Central Sectional title while the 4x800 team won the Pike Regional title. She anchored the Irish's sectional champion 4x400 relay team her junior year as well. Individually, she owns personal best times of 2:24 in the 800 and 1:00.20 in the 400. In cross country, she registered a personal best 5K time of 18:39.1 at the Noblesville Regional this past season, earning an 11th place finish and a semistate appearance. She was invited to compete in the NXR Midwest Regional Championships in Terre Haute following the high school season.
Howard advanced to the IHSAA State Finals each of the past three years, doing so in the 100m hurdles and 4x400 relay each season. In addition, she advanced to the state finals in the 300m hurdles as a sophomore in 2021. She earned sectional titles and regional runner-up finishes in the 100m hurdles each of the past two seasons, having run 14.99 at the Evansville Central Regional this past season. She jumped a personal best high jump mark of 5'4'' her junior year at the Eastern Relays and clocked personal best 300m hurdles time of 46.31 her sophomore season.
Laffoon advanced to the IHSAA State Finals in the high jump this past season, marking her first career state finals appearance. She was sectional runner-up in both high jump and long jump this past season and later jumped a personal best 5'4'' at both the Jefferson Regional and state championships. She had a personal best long jump of 17' 8.5'' at the Kendall Randle Invitational earlier this season and also competed with Seeger's 4x100 and 4x400 relays at that meet. In addition to her prowess on the track, she was also an all-conference honoree in both volleyball and basketball at Seeger High School.
Masoni comes to IUPUI after having attending Indiana University this past season, but not competing. She participated in cross country, track and rowing at Fishers High School. Her personal best cross country time was a 20:01.9 effort at the Delta Regional during the 2019 season when she finished sixth overall, advancing to New Haven Semi-State.
McGee advanced to the IHSA 1A State Track & Field Championships in the 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles and triple jump this past season, marking the third straight year she advanced to the state finals. She finished eighth in the 100m hurdles and clocked a season-best time of 15.69 in the prelims earlier that day. Her junior year, she finished fourth at the state championships in both the 100m hurdles and triple jump after having placed seventh in the 100m hurdles and tenth in the triple jump her sophomore year. She was Vermillion County Champion in the 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles and 4x400 relay her junior year and then won Vermillion Valley Conference championships in the 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles and triple jump later that season. She also earned a Vermillion Valley Conference title in the 100m hurdles her senior year. She finished her high school career with personal best times of 15.33 in the 100m hurdles, 49.28 in the 300m hurdles and 35' 4.5'' in the triple jump.
The Jaguars return a strong core from a squad that finished fourth at the Horizon League Cross Country Championships last season. In addition, the squad boasts a strong group of young returners on the track and field side as well.
