March 17, 2018
By Matt Paras
CORAL GABLES, Florida – The Notre Dame track and field team closed out its first meet of the outdoor season at the Hurricane Invitational on Saturday. The final day of the meet was highlighted by a number of top-five finishes for the Irish, along with personal-best marks on the track and in the infield.
Competing in her final collegiate season, Indi Jackson started the outdoor season with a win in the shot put. Her final toss of the afternoon traveled 15.55m (51-00.25) to claim the first-place finish. Freshman Rachel Tanczos set a personal-best mark in the shot put. Her second toss went 14.35m (47-01.00) and she finished seventh overall.
The Irish relay teams performed well Saturday afternoon in both events. The 4x100m relay got things started on the track and the team of Naya Sharp, Summer Thorpe, Michaela Butler and Kyla Lewis finished runner-up (45.38). Their time already beat the season-best time from last year that the group set at the 2017 ACC Championships.
Thorpe, Allison Bartoszewicz, Payton Miller and Jordan Shead led the way for the Irish in the 4x400m relay. That group also finished runner-up to Miami in the 4×400 with a final time of 3:40.86.
Shead is coming off her first career appearance at the NCAA Championships, running the 400m leg in the distance medley relay. She ran in the 400m dash at Coral Gables and the senior recorded a personal-best time. Shead finished fourth with a time of 53.31.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, all four Irish athletes finished within the top-10. Thorpe led the group with a fourth-place finish (13.52). She is coming off second team All-ACC honors in the 60m hurdles at the ACC Indoor championships and is poised for a strong outdoor season. Grace Cronin finished right behind Thorpe in fifth (13.85), followed by Sharp in seventh (14.16) and Hunter in 10th with a personal-best time of 14.38.
The Irish picked up a pair of top-five finishes in the men’s and women’s 100m dash. Lewis led the Irish women in the event, finishing fourth with a time of 11.74. Troy Pride Jr. finished fourth on the men’s side with a time of 10.61. Pride Jr. notched a top-10 finish in his other event of the day. He finished 10th overall in the 200m dash with a 21.51.
Freshman Gabrielle Diederich impressed in her first collegiate attempt in the javelin. Her fourth throw of the afternoon traveled 43.77m (143-07), which landed her a top-three finish in the event. Carter Sorenson tallied a top-five finish on the men’s side in the javelin. Sorenson finished fifth after his second throw went 49.17m (161-04).
Up Next
The Irish will be back in action next weekend when they travel down to Nashville, Tenn. Notre Dame will compete in the Black and Gold Invitational starting on Friday at 4 pm ET.
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Matt Paras, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since January 2018. In his role, he coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse and cross country/track & field programs. A native of Warwick, Rhode Island, Paras is a graduate of the University of Louisville where he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sport Administration. Prior to arriving at Notre Dame, he worked at Vanderbilt University as the sports information contact for the women’s soccer and lacrosse programs.