Johnathan Shawel finished in 13th place in 3:53.50 in the 1,500-meter run.

23 Irish Track And Field Members To Compete At NCAA Regionals

May 23, 2011

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field teams have a number of members that have qualified for the NCAA East Regional meet beginning Thursday in Bloomington, Ind. Indiana University is set to play host to the three-day event.

On the women’s side, Maddie Buttinger automatically qualified in the heptathlon. The junior is currently ranked 14th in the nation after her all-BIG EAST performance at the outdoor championship where she placed second and scored 5,403 points. She also qualified for the Regional in the high jump after clearing 1.73m at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship.

Freshman Michelle Brown will compete in the 400-meter dash after running 54.38 at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship, which earned her a fourth-place finish. The 54.38 is Brown’s Irish career best. Nevada Sorenson will also represent the sprint squad as the sophomore finished in 13.77 in the 100-meter hurdles at the Purdue Dave Rankin Invitational for a third-place finish. The final female sprinter that is set to make the trip to Bloomington, Ind. is freshman Megan Yanik. Yanik will compete in the 400-meter hurdles, the freshman qualified after the Louisville Cardinal Twilight meet where she finished in 59.34 and notched a first-place finish.

The women’s field members that will represent Notre Dame are Chrissy Finkel in the pole vault as the sophomore cleared 3.95m and placed second at the Purdue Dave Rankin Invitational. Senior Jasmine Williams will compete in the Regional in the long jump as she had a mark of 6.07m and a second-place finish at the Louisville Cardinal Twilight meet. Rudy Atang will compete in the Regional in the shot put after a throw of 15.69m and a finish in third place at the Arizona State Invitational.

Rebecca Tracy, Kelly Curran and Alexa Aragon will all compete in the 1,500-meter run. Tracy enters the meet with a 4:20.38 finishing time from the Mt. SAC Relays and a second-place finish. Curran finished in 4:25.52 at the Gina Relays and notched a second-place finish. Aragon will be the final competitor in the race for the Irish and she enters the meet after a 4:27.73 finish and a fifth-place finish.

Rachel Velarde is the final women’s team member and she will run the 10,000-meter race. The junior finished with a time of 35:27.22 at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship to qualify.

On the men’s side, Patrick Feeney will compete in the 400-meter dash after finishing in 47.27 and being named the champion at the 2011 BIG EAST Outdoor Championship.

The middle distance runners will be well represented at the meet as there are five runners set to compete. In the 800-meter run, Jack Howard and Kevin Labus will take to the track as Howard ran 1:48.24 and claimed the 800-meter crown at the 2011 BIG EAST Championship, while Labus ran 1:50.57 at the Louisville Cardinal Twilight meet and finished second overall.

Jeremy Rae, J.P. Malette, and Johnathan Shawel are set to compete in the 1,500-meter run. All three runners logged their qualifying times at the Mt. SAC Relays. Rae ran 3:41.11 for a second-place finish, while Malette placed eighth in 3:45.26 and Shawel ran 3:45.55 to finish in 11th place.

Junior Kelly Lynch is set to compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase after running 9:01.52 at the Louisville Cardinal Twilight meet. Senior Daniel Jackson will compete in the 10,000-meter run. Jackson ran 29:28.61 at the Mt. SAC Relays, which placed him as the fifth-place finisher.

Among the men’s field competitors are senior Kevin Schipper in the pole vault, Denes Veres in the shot put and John Belcher in the hammer throw. Schipper cleared 5.25m to claim first place the 2011 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships, while Veres had a mark of 17.50m at the Arizona State Invitational for a first-place finish. Belcher notched a personal record of 58.89m at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships and was the champion of the event. Logan Renwick will compete in the triple jump after posting a mark of 15.09m at the Purdue Mike Poehlein Invitational.

Indiana serves as the host to the East Regional, while the West Regional will be held at Oregon. Both meets begin Thursday and conclude Saturday.

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