May 5, 2007
STORRS, Conn. – Paced by record-setting performances from fifth-year senior Molly Huddle (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) and freshman Lindsey Ferguson (Greenfield Center, N.Y./Saratoga Springs), the Notre Dame women’s track & field team has moved into first place after Saturday’s second day of competition at the 2007 BIG EAST Conference Outdoor Championships, being held at the University of Connecticut’s George J. Sherman Family-Sports Complex in Storrs, Conn. The Irish women, who have never won a BIG EAST outdoor title but finished as the runner-up four of the past five years, have 40 points to take a slim lead over UConn (39) and Louisville (38.5) in the team standings, with Rutgers (32) and Cincinnati (31) rounding out the top five.
Meanwhile, the Notre Dame men, who are the defending outdoor conference champions and seeking to sweep the BIG EAST indoor/outdoor track & field titles for the first time since 2003, have amassed 33 points, trailing Louisville (96), with Syracuse (22), Connecticut (21) and South Florida (20) completing the top five on the team leaderboard.
Huddle capped off a strong first day for the Irish women’s squad by successfully defending her 10,000-meter title with a winning time of 33:20.42 (more than a full minute clear of her closest challenger), the second-fastest mark in school history and good enough to qualify the nine-time All-American for next month’s NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif. (there is no 10K race at the regional level). It’s the fifth career BIG EAST outdoor title (and sixth overall conference crown) for Huddle, and she becomes the sixth female in BIG EAST history to win multiple 10,000-meter championships, with Georgetown’s Marina Kruppa the last to do so in 2001-02. In addition, Huddle earns her fifth career outdoor all-conference certificate and 10th overall, trailing only classmate Maryann Erigha (Stone Mountain, Ga./Chamblee) for the most all-league honors in program history — Erigha is a 12-time honoree heading into this weekend’s meet.
Huddle could make even more history on Sunday, as she goes after her fourth BIG EAST outdoor 5,000-meter title (an event where her qualifying time this year is more than 20 seconds faster than her nearest competitor). Only four women in BIG EAST history have ever won four outdoor crowns in the same event, with Gillian Russell of Miami (Fla.) the last to do so in the 100-meter hurdles from 1992-95. What’s more, no BIG EAST track & field athlete (male or female) has ever won four outdoor titles in a distance event, and just three have done so in a track event — Russell, Seton Hall’s Kevin Lyles (men’s 400 meters from 1992-95) and Pittsburgh’s Debbie Bonner (women’s 100-meter hurdles from 1986-89). And, Huddle can become the first BIG EAST track & field athlete (male or female) to register the 5,000-meter/10,000-meter double victory twice in her career — she already is one of only five runners ever to pull off that feat once, joining Notre Dame men’s standouts Jason Rexing (1996) and Ryan Shay (2000), as well as Seton Hall’s Bryan Spoonhire (1994) and the only other woman in the club, Villanova’s Carole Zajac (1993).
While Huddle is winding down an epic career at Notre Dame, Ferguson is just getting started with her collegiate tenure under the Golden Dome. The Irish rookie added her name in the school’s record books on Saturday, finishing third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a school-record time of 10:41.33 (lowering her Mideast Regional qualifier), which is 16-hundredths of a second (0.16) faster than senior Katie DeRusso (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) ran at the 2005 NCAA Mideast Regional. DeRusso herself clocked a season-best time of 10:54.16 on the way to a fifth-place finish in the BIG EAST race. For Ferguson, it her second career all-conference honor, adding to the citation she garnered as a member of Notre Dame’s third-place distance medley relay unit at February’s BIG EAST indoor meet.
Another Irish freshman earned her first career all-conference honor, as Jaclyn Espinoza (Keizer, Ore./Regis) finished second in the discus throw with a top mark of 47.46 meters (155-8) on her first attempt of the competition. Espinoza already has booked her place in the Mideast Regional with a season-best throw of 49.76 meters (163-3) at last weekend’s Hillsdale (Mich.) Gina Relays.
On the men’s side, the Irish posted a 2-3 finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with senior Todd Ptacek (Benton Harbor, Mich./Lake Michigan Catholic) waging a thrilling stretch duel with Louisville’s Cory Thorne before taking runner-up honors in 8:55.67 (to Thorne’s time of 8:55.35). Junior Jake Watson (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) followed his teammate across the line in a personal-best 9:01.00, giving Notre Dame two of the top three finishers in the event for the third consecutive year. Ptacek’s second-place outing was his second in as many years and resulted in his third career outdoor all-BIG EAST certificate (to go with two indoor plaques). For Watson, who also took second in this event in 2005, he now has three career outdoor all-conference honors and four overall, after taking third in the BIG EAST indoor mile back in February.
Ptacek had a highly-productive day, also advancing to the finals in the 1,500-meter run and qualifying for the NCAA Mideast Regional in the process with a personal-best time of 3:44.98 that was more than four seconds better than his previous record.
Sophomore Patrick Smyth (Salt Lake City, Utah/Judge Memorial) continued a Notre Dame tradition at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships with his third-place finish in the 10,000-meter run (29:51.77). In each of the program’s 12 years as a BIG EAST member, the Irish have had at least one runner finish in the top three of the event, including five champions. Smyth collected his first-ever outdoor all-conference award, and second overall all-BIG EAST designation after a runner-up showing in the 5,000 meters at this year’s conference indoor meet.
Senior Christopher Jacques (Old Brookville, N.Y/Chaminade) was the other Notre Dame male to earn all-BIG EAST status on Saturday, placing third in the long jump with a career-best leap of 7.43 meters (24-4.5), which also qualified him for the NCAA Mideast Regional for the first time in his career. Jacques, who claimed his first career outdoor all-conference citation this weekend, is just the third Irish lone jumper to place in the top three at the BIG EAST outdoor meet, following on the heels of Godwin Mbagwu (first in 2004) and Marshaun West (third in 2000).
Both Notre Dame teams will be back in action starting Sunday at 9 a.m. (ET) with the men’s javelin final. Much of the finals on the track will be contested on Sunday, ending with the men’s 1,600-meter relay at 2:35 p.m. (ET) and the awards ceremony to follow shortly thereafter. Heat sheets and live results (courtesy of Scullion’s Timing) are available through the special championships page at the official BIG EAST web site, while complete final results also will be posted here on the Notre Dame athletics web site and the Irish Sports Hotline (574-631-3000) at the conclusion of the meet.
— ND —