Jan. 24, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – In the first home indoor meet in nearly two months, the University of Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field programs returned to the Loftus Sports Center looking to kick the 2015 portion of the schedule into high gear. The Irish collectively won four events, and men’s senior sprinter Chris Giesting established a new program record in the 600 meters during the annual Notre Dame Invitational on Saturday.
On the women’s side, Notre Dame earned two event victories and 100 points to finish in second place out of five teams. The Irish men added a pair of event wins, placing fifth in the final standings with 57 points.
“I think we competed very well,” Notre Dame head coach Alan Turner said. “In track, unlike a lot of team sports where each game counts and you have to keep up with the standings, you are trying to build each week toward the conference championship and national championship meets.”
Looking beyond the results and the points in the scoring column, Turner was pleased with many of the top performances from both of his squads on Saturday, both on the track and in the field.
“Obviously Chris (Giesting’s) performance was a big one today, and in the women’s 400, Margaret Bamgbose had her second-fastest time ever indoors,” Turner said. “That’s going to place her after this weekend probably at least in the top eight in the country. She was a first team All-American outdoors last year, and I think she is definitely going to be an All-American indoors this year.”
Bamgbose cruised to victory in her heat of the 400 meters, clocking in with a first-place run of 53.37. The junior defeated Purdue’s Aarin Jones (55.08) by nearly one and a half seconds.
Senior Emily Morris nearly equaled her own program record in the shot put that she established earlier this season by logging a top throw of 16.00m on her sixth and final attempt on Saturday. Morris’ effort paced the field and gave the Notre Dame women’s team its second victory of the day.
Giesting showed his dominance nearly from the outset of the men’s 600-meter race, opening a comfortable lead on his way to a school record time of 1:16.70 and the event win. Giesting’s run surpassed the longtime men’s benchmark of 1:18.65 in the distance that was established by Jeff Hojnacki in 1997.
“The goal today was to break the school record, and I knew he could do it,” Turner said. “I didn’t think he was going to exceed it by such a margin that he did. Chris is really ahead of where I thought he would be. I thought he could run high 1:17, I didn’t think he could break 1:17. Every time I doubt him he exceeds my expectations.”
Junior Michael Clevenger added the second race win for the Notre Dame men, posting a victorious mile time of 4:05.99 to down Eastern Michigan’s Willy Fink (4:06.30).
“We have a plan, and there are certain meets we want to peak for,” Turner said. “Next week at Arkansas (Razorback Invitational, Jan. 30) is a big one, all the major powerhouses are there, so we want to have a very good showing. After that, the Meyo (Invitational, Feb. 6) is a huge meet, and we know our track well. Basically after the Meyo meet, I will be able to give a great assessment of where we will be for the ACC Championships.”
WOMEN’S EVENTS
200m: Three Irish sprinters finished in the top ten. Jade Barber finished sixth with a time of 24.58. Allison Bartoszewicz finished right behind Barber with a time of 24.65 and Parker English came in right after Bartoszewicz with a time of 24.66.
600m: Jordan Shead took third place with a time of 1:32.84.
60m Hurdles: Jade Barber earned a second place finish with a time of 8.44. Taylor Craft finished fifth with a time of 8.82.
800m: Three Irish runners finished in the top five starting with Ashlyn Rambo who crossed the line in third place at 2:12.89. Alexis Daugherty followed her with a fourth place finish with a time of 2:13.37. Jamie Marvil rounded out the top five with a time of 2:14.73.
400m: Margaret Bamgbose captured first place with a time of 53.37. Parker English rounded off the top five with a time of 55.67.
Mile: Danielle Aragon took second place with a time of 4:44.01. Taylor Driscoll brought home a sixth place finish with a time of 4:54.29. Sydni Meunier followed her with a seventh place time of 4:57.98
3000m: Molly Seidel took home a second place finish with a time of 9:20.62. Emily Frydrych ran across the line in sixth place at 9:49.38. Karen Lesiewicz finished right behind her in seventh place at 9:51.70
4x400m Relay: Notre Dame’s “A” team rallied to win second place with a time of 3:40.93. The team consisted of Parker English, Payton Miller, Jordan Shead, and Margaret Bamgbose. The “B” team finished sixth. Amber Lalla, Mikaila Chamblee, Michelle Rotondo, and Allison Bartoszewicz ran to a time of 3:54.40. The “C” team consisting of Samantha Murray, Alexis Daugherty, Danielle Aragon, and Jamie Marvil finished eighth with a time of 3:56.43.
Weight Throw: Emily Morris finished fourth with a best throw of 17.23m. Ihuoma Nwaogwugwu rounded out the top five with a distance of 17.15m.
High Jump: Rachel Rhodes finished fifth place with a height of 1.60 m.
Long Jump: Emily Carson leapt to a second place finish with a distance of 5.90m.
Shot Put: Emily Morris won the event with a throw of 16.00m. Lena Madison came in sixth with a distance of 13.56m.
Triple Jump: Mary Esther Gourdin finished fourth with a distance of 11.96m.
MEN’S EVENTS
200m: Harvey Smith earned second place with a time of 21.66.
600m: Chris Giesting brought home a first place finish while breaking the school record with a time of 1:16.70. Patrick O’Connell took sixth place with a time of 1:20.82.
400m: Harvey Smith took seventh place in the event with a time of 48.56.
Mile: Michael Clevenger raced to a first place finish with a time of 4:05.99. Billy Dolan took home sixth place in the event with a time of 4:11.18.
800m: Grant Koch came across the line in second place at 1:52.00. Andrew Stone finished in sixth place with a time of 1:53.78. Andrew Pott finished shortly after him and came in seventh place at 1:54.47.
4×400 Relay: Harvey Smith, Oye Eyeguokan, John Rutkowski, and Chris Giesting formed the Notre Dame “A” team and ran to a third place finish with a time of 3:12.87.
Long Jump: Keith Mesidor claimed third place in the event with a distance of 7.08m.
High Jump: Hunter Holton jumped his way to fifth place with a height of 1.95m.
Weight Throw: Dominick Padovano finished eighth with a distance of 17.96m.
Pole Vault: David Schipper earned ninth place with a height of 4.60m.
3000m: Brent Kennedy finished in fourth place with a time of 8:23.76. Tim Ball finished eighth with a time of 8:28.96 followed closely by Kristopher Moran with a time of 8:29.13.
–ND–