March 7, 2018
By Matt Paras
NOTRE DAME, Indiana – The Notre Dame track and field team will be well represented in College Station as eight athletes will compete in three events this weekend.
“I am expecting us to be first team All-Americans in the three events we qualified in,” said Hatherly-Piane Head Track and Field Coach Alan Turner. “The women’s DMR has earned All-American honors in each of the past five years and if Jess [Harris] is in the top-eight when she gets the baton, we will finish very well.”
“In the men’s DMR, Jacob Dumford has done a great job at the Alex Wilson Invitational and conference getting off to a good start and getting us out front,” said Turner. “Yared [Nuguse] will be the anchor and if he gets the baton near the front, we should do really well in the event.”
WHAT: NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships
WHEN: Friday, March 9 – Saturday, March 10, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET
WHERE: Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium (College Station, Texas)
FRIDAY LIVE STREAM: WatchESPN Link
SATURDAY LIVE STREAM: WatchESPN Link
LIVE RESULTS: NCAA Live Results
The men’s distance medley relay qualified after their record-breaking run at the Alex Wilson Invitational. Dumford, Edward Cheatham, Elijah Silva and Nuguse broke the school record in the final home meet of the season with a time of 9:28.79. Nuguse earned ACC Track Performer of the Week after running a sub four-minute mile split (3:57.38) in the anchor leg of the relay. It is the first time since 2014 that the men’s DMR qualified for the national meet.
“The goal with the men’s DMR is to come back as All-Americans,” said assistant coach Sean Carlson. “We have really prepared for running a good DMR this year. We have forgone some opportunities to run good individual open times in place of trying to prepare our DMR to come home with an All-American finish.”
The women’s distance medley relay qualified two weeks ago at the 2018 ACC Indoor Championships. Kelly Hart, Peyton Miller, Samantha Murray and Jessica Harris finished third overall with a time of 11:02.01. The Irish will not run the same squad they did for their qualifier, and will instead race with Jordan Shead on the 400m leg. This Irish are very experienced in the event as Harris, Hart and Murray have all earned All-America honors in the past three years.
“Jess has been a three-time All-American in the distance medley relay and last year she qualified individually for the mile as well,” said associate head coach Matt Sparks. “We have a very veteran group running in the relay. Sam Murray was an All-American as a freshman and Kelly [Hart] was an All-American last year. We know they are going to come out and perform their best, they are all prepared and fit and ready to go.”
Harris will also run in the open mile earlier in the day on Friday. She is coming off her second-straight ACC Championship in the mile. Harris heads into NCAA’s with the ninth-fastest seed time (4:36.30), which she ran at the Iowa State Classic on Feb. 9. This will be her second-straight year competing in the mile at NCAA’s.
Live Coverage
ESPN3 will stream the meet live starting at 6:30 p.m. ET March 9 and starting at 5 p.m. ET March 10. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 7 p.m. ET Sunday, March 11 on ESPN2.
For a closer look at the Irish track and field program, follow @NDXCTF on Twitter and Instagram.
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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.