March 22, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. – The Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field teams competed outdoors for the first time this year on Friday and Saturday in the Baldy Castillo Invitational at Arizona State University. The event was not team scored, but Notre Dame did claim four individual wins, and Jaime Volkmer set the school record in the Pole Vault. Notre Dame also recorded nine qualifications for the NCAA Regional Championship meet.
Volkmer won the women’s pole vault with an effort of 3.90m (12′ 9 1/2″). The vault broke Volkmer’s own school record of 3.81m (12′ 6″) which she set a year ago. The vault also gave Volkmer a spot in the NCAA Regional meet, a new addition to the collegiate track schedule this year. All NCAA competitors will have to qualify for one of the four Regional Championships, which have slightly lower standards than the traditional NCAA Championship meet. The Regional meets will then decide who moves on to the NCAA meet a week later.
The women’s 4×100-meter relay team also started the outdoor season off right. The relay team, made up of senior Tameisha King, senior Kymia Love, junior Ayesha Boyd and junior Kristen Dodd, finished in first place with a time of 44.73 seconds. The team won the race by the slimmest of margins, only .01 seconds ahead of second place Arizona State. The time was also less than a half-second off the school record set last year and it qualified the team for the NCAA Regional Championship.
Senior Kymia Love won the 400-meter dash in a time of 53.85 seconds. Love was followed by a pair of her teammates in the race, Kristen Dodd was second with a time of 54.18 seconds, and sophomore Tiffany Gunn crossed the line third in a time of 54.92 seconds. All three times were good enough to qualify the three for the NCAA Regional. Stacy Cowan claimed the fourth Notre Dame win in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.75m (5′ 8 3/4″). Cowan’s clearance was good for another NCAA Regional qualification.
Among the men’s top finishers was sophomore Selim Nurudeen, who placed third in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 14.31 seconds, a regional qualification. Also placing third was sophomore Ryan Mineburg in the high jump with a height of 2.07 meters (6′ 9 1/2″), good for another regional qualification. The men’s 4×400-meter relay team finished fourth in 3:22.41.
Complete results from the meet are available on the Arizona State athletic web site www.thesundevils.com. Notre Dame track and field will be in action next week at three different venues, the Florida Relays in Gainsville, Fla., the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. and the Western Michigan Open in Kalamazoo, Mich.