Feb. 19, 2005
Syracuse, NY – The Notre Dame men’s track and field team put themselves in great position to claim the team title in the 2005 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships on the campus of Syracuse University. After Saturday’s competition, with seven events complete, the Irish lead the team competition with 57.5 points. Rutgers stands in second place (37.5), Pittsburgh is third (35) and Georgetown is fourth (32). In the women’s meet, the Irish will be in third place overnight, having scored 29 points today. A very strong Pittsburgh team leads the field with 66.5 points, Boston College is the second-place team (37) and Georgetown stands in fourth (23).
The exclamation point was put on the meet in the last event of the day when the Irish men came from behind to win the distance medley relay to win the second of two individual titles on the day. The other champion from Notre Dame was Christopher Jacques. Jacques, a sophomore, won the long jump on his final attempt of the afternoon. The men put themselves in great position to challenge Rutgers, the favorite to win the men’s team crown.
The biggest event of all for the men however, was the weight throw. The throwers picked up 15 very big points in the event on tosses by Chip Roberts, Garet Koxlein and Kyle Annen. Koxlein and Annen both threw career records to carry the Irish.
Top finishes on the women’s side on Saturday went to the distance crew. Molly Huddle was the top individual female, taking second place in the 5,000 meters behind the athlete with the fastest 5,000-meter time in the NCAA this season, Mauree McCandless of Pittsburgh. The women’s distance medley relay was just edged out by Georgetown in the distance medley relay, and also took home a second place finish.
The meet starts again on Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. with the final events in the men’s heptathlon, wrapping up with the awards ceremony at 3:00 p.m. Live results will be available at www.bigeast.org.
A continuous recap will also be available on the track & field page at und.com
Below is a recap of how the top Irish competitors fared in each event.
PENTATHLON
Stacey Cowan and Kate Jennazo got day one of competition underway for the Irish in the women’s pentathlon. Cowan finished third in the event on the strength of an excellent high jump (5′ 10.5″). Cowan’s total score for the five events was 3635. Jennazo’s highlight was a tie for the victory in the 800m, she finished 11th overall with a score of 2913.
60m DASH
Maryann Erigha, the BIG EAST’s best sprinter, and her teammate Brienne Davis set the Irish up well heading into the Sunday final in the 60-meter dash. Erigha won the second heat of the preliminaries with the second fastest time on the day (7.51). Her teammate Davis qualified for the finals by taking second place in the third heat(7.66).
No preliminaries were held in the men’s meet, as only nine competitors are entered, and all will compete in the finals on Sunday.
200m DASH
Erigha followed up the 60-meter dash with another easy victory in her heat of the 200-meter dash in a time of 24.48; she will be favored to win the event on Sunday. Brienne Davis will join Erigha in the finals, having advanced with a time of 25.08.
Selim Nurudeen claimed a spot in the 200m on Sunday, cruising to a victory in his section of the 200-meter dash preliminaries (21.67). He will be joined there by teammate Dwight Ellick, who finished third in his own heat, but a mere 0.04 seconds out of first; Ellick’s time was 21.89.
400m DASH
Okechi Ogbuokiri had the fastest time on the day in the women’s 400-meter preliminary. Her time of 55.96 easily won the first heat, and she will compete in the finals on Sunday.
In the men’s section of the 400 meters, Irish freshman Robert Kueny was the team’s top finisher, placing fourth in the third heat with a time of 50.69m.
500m DASH
Tiffany Gunn, the favorite to win the 500m on Sunday secured her spot in the finals with a victory in her section of the preliminary race. Gunn shut down with 50 meters to go, and holds the fastest preliminary time in the meet (1:13.72).
In the men’s meet, a pair of Irish will move on to the finals of the 500 meters. Trevor McClain-Duer (1:03.50) and Austin Wechter (1:04.92) each won their heats and will be seeded first and fourth respectively in the finals.
800m RUN
Brianne Schmidt was the number-one finisher for Notre Dame in the women’s 800 meters preliminary (2:16.69). Just behind her was Irish freshman Rachel Heneghan with a time of 2:17.21.
Adam Currie, the top seed in the men’s 800 meters, moved on to the finals with a time of 1:55.44 while taking third place in the first section of the event.
1,000m RUN
Freshman Jacqueline Carter will be the representative for the Irish in the women’s 1,000 meters on Sunday. Carter qualified for the finals with a time of 2:54.79.
Todd Ptacek and Jake Watson moved on to the final in the 1,000 meters for the Irish men. Ptacek’s time of 2:26.78 was good for second place in the second heat of the preliminary and Watson captured third in his heat with a time of 2:28.74, good for the sixth-best time overall.
MILE
Stephanie Madia ran a strong preliminary in the women’s mile, and her time of 5:02.90 will put her in the finals on Sunday. Katie DeRusso will join Madia in the final, she moves on by virtue of her time of 5:05.59.
Kurt Benninger and Eric Morrison made it another pair of Irish in the men’s section of the mile finals on Sunday. The pair picked first and second place in the first section of the preliminaries. Benninger won in a time of 4:14.42 and Morrison was just behind him in second place (4:14.51). Vinny Ambrico also qualified for the finals in the mile, placing third in the second heat of the preliminaries in a time of 4:15.19.
5,000m RUN
In the first running event final of the weekend, Molly Huddle made her season debut in style. The junior claimed a second-place finish in the women’s 5,000 meters. Huddle, out for the entire indoor track season with a broken foot, finished with a time of 16:12.17, which ranks as the eighth best time in the NCAA this season. Amy Kohlmeier placed eighth in the event with a time of 17:15.91.
Tim Moore battled a pair of Georgetown athletes at the head of the pack, and led for the first half of the race, before claiming a third-place finish in the men’s 5,000 meters (14:27.25). Crossing the line fifth in the event was Kaleb Van Ort in a time of 14:29.57. All-American Todd Mobley rounded out the scoring for the Irish in the event, capturing sixth place in the event in a time of 14:34.
60m HURDLES
The first event of the day on the track saw senior captain Tiffany Gunn and freshman Domenique Manning take to the track in the 60-meter hurdle preliminaries. Manning and Gunn finished with times of 8.86 and 8.97 in the preliminary round respectively.
Selim Nurudeen started his busy weekend off on the right foot. Nurudeen, the defending conference champ in the 60-meter hurdles took first place in his qualifying heat with easily the fastest time on the day. Nurudeen tied his season best time in the event (7.81). Joining him in Sunday’s final will be Geoffrey Bennett, who took third place in his qualifying section and will move on to Sunday’s action as the 6th seed in that final.
DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY
Sunni Olding ran a personal best 4:46 split as the anchor of the women’s DMR, but it was not enough to overcome a strong charge put on by Georgetown anchor Maggie Infield. The team, composed of Stephanie Madia, Crysta Swayzer, Brianne Schmidt, as well as Olding, was second across the line with a time of 11:32.29.
The men won a thrilling DMR with Sean O’Donnell’s anchor making up a 20-meter Villanova lead, and passing for the lead with 400 meters to go. The winning time for the Irish was (10:00.17).
LONG JUMP
Petra Dankova was the lone woman long jumping for Notre Dame on Saturday. Dankova capitalized on the opportunity by claiming a third place finish in the event with a season-best leap of 5.88m (19′ 3.5″).
Christopher Jacques became the first BIG EAST champion for the Fighting Irish in 2005. Jacques won the men’s long jump on his last attempt, leaping a season-best 7.23m (23′ 8.75″).
POLE VAULT
In the women’s pole vault, the only Irish competitor, Dee Dee Bryant, came within five centimeters of her season-best vault. Bryant finished with a height of 3.30m (10′ 10″).
The Irish men’s pole-vaulting duo of Justin Oppel and Dave Viken combined for 9.5 team points in the pole vault. Each cleared a height of 4.50m (14′ 9″). With Oppel tying for third place, and Viken claiming fifth place after a count-back of misses.
WEIGHT THROW
Meghan Horn had a solid outing in her first event of the weekend with a toss of 15.00m (49′ 0.75″).
The trio of athletes in the men’s weight throw picked up important team points for the Irish. The three Notre Dame men claimed third, fourth and fifth position in the event. Chip Roberts was the team’s top finisher, taking third place with a throw of 17.26m (56′ 7.5″). His teammates Garet Koxlein and Kyle Annen followed, each tossing a season-best in the event. Koxlein’s fourth-place effort was 16.91m (55′ 5.75″); Annen had a throw of 16.48m (54′ 1″).