April 2, 1999

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame’s men’s and women’s track and field teams got their outdoor season off to a good start as they performed well against strong competition this past weekend at the Stanford Invitational and the Purdue Open. Highlighting the weekend for the Irish was All-American JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) whose automatic qualifying time of 33:28.01* in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational shattered the former Notre Dame record of 34:32.95 set by current Irish runner Alison Klemmer (Troy, Mich.) at the 1998 NCAA Championships. Klemmer also competed in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational and finished eighth with an automatic qualifying time of 34:19.19. Also competing at the Stanford Invitational was sophomore Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.), whose 12th-place time of 29:01.59 in the 10,000 meters beat the NCAA automatic qualifying standard by nearly 10 seconds. Not to be bested by their teammates out West, the Irish athletes competing at the Purdue Open took home four first-place finishes. Freshman Quill Redwine (San Antonio, Tex.) picked up his first collegiate outdoor win in the triple jump with his mark of 45-9 1/4, and two-time indoor All-American Jennifer Engelhardt (Battle Creek, Mich.) won the high jump with a leap of 5-8.

Stanford Invitational Recap: At the Stanford Invitational, the Irish picked up 12 top-10 finishes in two days of action. Freshman Liz Grow (New Braunfels, Tex.) captured Notre Dame’s only first-place finish as she ran to time of 54.72 in the 400 meters. Grow also placed fourth in the 200 meters with a time of 24.39. Indoor All-American Antonio Arce (Palmdale, Calif.) placed ninth in the 5,000 meters with his provisional qualifying time of 13:55.98, while junior Phil Mishka (Toledo, Ohio) placed third in the 800 meters with a time of 1:51.09. Senior Nadia Schmiedt (London, Ont.), hampered by injuries during the indoor season, ran well in the 400-meter hurdles as she finished third with a time of 59.34. Junior Chris Cochran (Crystal Lake, Ill.) placed fourth in the 200 with his time of 21.77, while freshman Dore DeBartolo (Aurora, Ill.) captured two top-10 finishes as she placed seventh in the hammer throw with a toss of 162-4 and ninth in the discus with a throw of 141-7. Junior Nicole LaSelle (Dayton, Ohio) placed 18th in the 10,000 meters with her NCAA provisional qualifying time of 35:28.87.

Purdue Open Recap: Junior Mike Griewe (Tampa, Fla.) and sophomore Jennifer Pavela (LaCrosse, Wisc.) also captured first-place finishes at the Purdue Open. Griewe finished first in the 10,000 meters with a time of 31.51.18, and Pavela ran to a first-place time of 2:16.66 in the 800 meters. Senior Mike Dreznes (Oak Forest, Ill.) was right behind Griewe in the 10,000 meters as he finished second with a time of 31:56.47. Senior Kelle Saxen (Canton, Ohio) placed second to Engelhardt in the high jump with her jump of 5-5. Freshman Natalie Hallett (Huntington Beach, Calif.) competed well in her first collegiate outdoor meet as she placed third in the pole vault with a mark of 10-2. Sophomore Carri Lenz (London, Ont.) placed third in the 100 meters with a time of 12.42, while junior Brian Holinka (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) finished fifth in the 800 meters with a time of 1:54.68.

Up Next: Notre Dame will compete in its only home outdoor meet of the season this upcoming weekend. The Irish will play host too Butler, Miami (Ohio), Western Michigan and the Iowa women’s squad. At last year’s quad-meet versus Butler, Miami and Western Michigan, both Notre Dame teams finished third behind Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan. The meet will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the men’s hammer throw at the Monogram Track to the east of the Joyce Center. The event concludes with the men’s 4X400-meter relay at 3 p.m.

*Correction from earlier release on March 28, 1999, Deeter’s time was not 32:53.95; that was the first-place time.