The University of Notre Dame track and field program splits this weekend to compete in two meets on the road. The majority of the team travels to Nashville to take part in the Music City Challenge at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Fieldhouse, while a handful of student-athletes head to Ames for the Iowa State Classic at the Harry Hoak Track inside Lied Recreation Athletics Center.
The Music City Challenge is set to start at 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 14 and then resume at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 15. The Iowa State Classic will begin at 1:00 p.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 14 and then pick back up at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15.
The Irish will have most members of their team in action this weekend with sprinters, hurdlers, some distance runners, and a full field squad to compete in jump and throw events at the Music City Challenge, and a select group of men’s distance runners to compete at the Iowa State Classic.
MEET INFORMATION
What: Music City Challenge
When: 5 p.m. ET — Feb. 14, 2020 | 11 a.m. ET — Feb. 15, 2020
Where: Vanderbilt Multipurpose Fieldhouse | Nashville, Tenn.
Links: Meet Info | Live Results | Meet Schedule
What: Iowa State Classic
When: 1 p.m. ET — Feb. 14, 2020 | 1 p.m. ET — Feb. 15, 2020
Where: Harry Hoak Track inside Lied Recreation Athletics Center | Ames, Iowa
Links: Live Stream ($) | Live Stats | Meet Info
BY THE NUMBERS
32 — Events won by Notre Dame over the first five meets of the season.
20 — The Irish men finished the 2018-19 indoor season with a 20th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
8 — The Irish women finished in eighth place at the 2019 ACC Indoor Championships.
7:46.71 — Junior and two-time national champion Yared Nuguse won the 3,000m at the Meyo Invitational last weekend with a time of 7:46.71, setting the Notre Dame program record, the Loftus Sports Center record and the top time in DI this season.
6 — The Irish men finished in sixth place at the 2019 ACC Indoor Championships.
5 — Colton Crum posted the fifth best height in program history in the pole vault at the GVSU Bill Clinger Classic on Jan. 17 with a mark of 5.21m to win the event.
4 — The total number of ACC Indoor titles Irish student-athletes claimed in 2019: men’s distance medley relay, men’s mile (Yared Nuguse), men’s weight throw (Logan Kusky) and women’s weight throw (Rachel Tanczos).
2 — Rachel Tanczos broke the Notre Dame program record in the weight throw and set the meet record at the Power Five Invitational with a distance of 22.51m. The junior enters the weekend with the second best mark at the DI level in the event.
1 — The finish of Notre Dame’s men’s distance medley relay team, comprised of Edward Cheatham, Sam Voelz, Dylan Jacobs and Yared Nuguse, at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships, winning the program’s first NCAA title (also in the DMR) since 2012. The team also won the ACC title in the event.
NOTABLE
- Yared Nuguse was named the ACC Track Performer of the Week by the conference on Wednesday after his record-setting performance at the Meyo Invitational in the 3,000m run this past weekend. Nuguse finished with a time of 7:46.71, the top time in DI this season.
- Rachel Tanczos was named the ACC Field Performer of the Week for the second time this season after setting the program and meet record in the weight throw with a mark of 22.51m at the Power 5 Invitational.
- Summer Thorpe has won the 60m hurdle events in four of the five meets this season and currently ranks third in the ACC in the event with a time of 8.27. Teammate Naya Sharp finished third in the 60m hurdles at the Meyo Invitational with a time of 8.36, the top time of her career and the sixth best time in the ACC this season.
- Sophomore Samuel Voelz placed second in the 800m run at the Meyo Invitational last weekend with a time of 1:49.22, the third fastest time in the ACC this season.
- Sophomore Colton Crum ranks third in the ACC in pole vault entering the weekend with a height of 5.21m.
- Senior Logan Kusky enters the weekend ranked second in the weight throw in the ACC with a distance of 21.36m.
- Senior Ryan Schweizer got his season off to a good start in December, winning the men’s mile with a time of 4:15.44. This was Schweizer’s first race in two years after missing each of the last two indoor and outdoor track seasons due to injury. He is set to compete in the mile again at the Iowa State Classic.