Draft:Bradford Preparatory School

Bradford Preparatory School (commonly referred to as "Bradford", or "Bradford Prep") was established in 2014. They're a K-12 school located in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. The mascot is the bear and school colors are navy, green, and silver.

History

Expansions

In 2014, the school opened to originally K-8 due to space constraints at Elevation Church, and only a few trailers on the property of where the school is now. In early 2016, the first building was created. Now referred to as the "lower school building", it housed the elementary and high school students, with the middle school in trailers. In 2018, the upper school building was built, and with that came the expansion of the school to K-12. In summer of 2020, the gym and fine arts building was built. 3 years later, the athletic complex was introduced with a main field, track, and a auxiliary field. In 2024, there were expansion made to both the lower and upper school.

Athletics

High School

Bradford competes in the 1A/2A Catawba Shores Conference in the Western region.

Cross Country

The early years of the program led to many struggles for gaining any recognition. In 2021, Ezekiel Self bursts onto the scene becoming the first person to qualify for states in the history of Bradford Cross Country. He ended his career with a 17:48, the school record.

2023 marked the first year with an upturn in quality of runners. On the girls side, McKenzie Ashcraft, a multi-time race winner, joined the team after a prolific middle school career. She gained the girls 2 mile record with a 14:57. 2023 also marks the third year in a row the girls qualified for states.

On the boys side, Grant Richardson and Laith Hatamleh as seniors near the front of the pack every race. Richardson got the boys 2 mile record with a 12:33, and Hatamleh broke Self's 5k record with a time of 16:58, which is still standing as of January of 2025. The boys qualified for the state championship for the first time in history.

In 2024 it's now the sophomore Aaron Cox as the fastest man on the team, with a time of 17:40, making him the 3rd fastest in the schools history, and the next chance to break Hatamleh's record. In the same season, Charles (Cole) Parker takes the boys 2 mile time with a 11:57. The pair would lead the boys to their second states appearance, with Cox taking top 25 in the state.

Ashcraft yet again broke her 2 mile record with a 13:56, further cementing her as the future of girls cross country. She led the girls to their 4th consecutive state championship appearance, taking 17th.