April 18, 2014
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Following the second day of action of the Outdoor ACC Championships, both the men’s and women’s Notre Dame track and field teams find themselves ranked eighth in the team standings. After two days, the men have earned 15 points and the women have 19.
“We got women in the finals for every event except for the 800m,” said associate head coach Alan Turner. “Florida State has a big lead on us, so we need them to trip over their own legs and we need to fire on all cylinders tomorrow to win this thing. On the men’s side, we didn’t get as many people into the finals as we thought we would, especially distance-wise. It’s going to be a dogfight between us and Florida State and North Carolina.”
Putting points up on the board for the Irish today were Emily Morris and Alexa Aragon. Morris had a throw of 15.96m in the women’s shot put, a personal best for her and a new Notre Dame record. Her performance secured a fourth-place finish and earned five points for the Irish.
Aragon finished second in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 10:11.52. Her finish won another eight points for the women’s team.
“Alexa ran very well,” Turner added. “Her race was a highlight of today.”
Several Notre Dame athletes also ran solid races in preliminary events as well, setting the Irish up for success tomorrow. Jade Barber ran a season-best time of 13.11 in the 100m hurdles, finishing first in her heat and qualifying for the finals. She also qualified for the finals in the 100m dash with a time of 11.72.
Margaret Bamgbose and Michelle Brown both finished first in their heats of the 400m dash, qualifying for the finals of the event. On the men’s side of the event, Chris Giesting and Patrick Feeney also both won their heats and moved on to the finals. Finally, Josh Atkinson qualified for the finals of the men’s 100m dash with his time of 10.71.
–Lauren Chval, Media Relations Assistant
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