Feb. 16, 2013
Geneva, Ohio – The University of Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field teams advanced to Sunday’s finals in 14 events and captured 29 top-eight finishes on day one of the BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships inside the Spire Institute Saturday.
The women’s team sits in third place through five events with 26 points holding off fourth-place Louisville (15 points) and tracking first-place Connecticut by 22 points.
The men’s team finish day one with a total of 20.5 points through five events scored and will start in fourth place to begin the final day on Sunday. The Irish are currently 24 points behind South Florida and four points ahead of Providence and Georgetown, who both sit in a tie for third.
“On the women’s side we have quite a few runners competing tomorrow,” said head coach Joe Plane. “We are going to have two very good relays and we have some ladies in the field events that are really going to help us out. It’s going to be very exciting and it’s going to boil down to I think Notre Dame and Connecticut. On the men’s side we have our hurdler back for tomorrow’s finals. We have a guy in the 200, 400, 500, 1,000 and in the mile. It’s going to come again down to Notre Dame and Connecticut, with possibly Villanova who might sneak in there. We will just have to see what happens but we had a pretty good first day.”
“I think the big key today was making sure that we got the potential scores all the way through in the races that had trials and we did that in the hurdles, 60m, 200m, 400m, 800m and in the 1,000m. We got all of those people through,” said assistant coach and women’s distance head coach Tim Connelly. “I think that sets us up for a really good day tomorrow.”
Carly Loeffel placed second in the pentathlon, gathering in 3,915 total points in the five events, to earn all-BIG EAST honors.
Jade Barber once again set the new standard in Irish record book lowering her school record in the 60m hurdles to 8.23. She previously set the record at the Meyo Invitational this year with a time of 8.26. Her newly found school record is the best time in the BIG EAST to date.
Kelly Curran, Amber Lalla, Rebecca Tracy and Alexa Aragon each contributed to a third-place finish for the Irish with a time of 11:07.32 in the women’s distance medley relay, joining Loeffel with all-BIG EAST accolades. The time also gives Notre Dame the seventh-best time in the nation in the event.
Ted Glasnow leads the heptathlon through four events with a total of 3,084 points and will look to defend his top spot going into tomorrow’s competition.
The Irish return for the second and final day of the BIG EAST Indoor Championship tomorrow as the men’s heptathlon kicks off at 9:00 a.m.
COMPLETE RESULTS (TOP-EIGHT ONLY)
WOMEN’S RESULTS
Pentathlon (finals): Carly Loeffel tooks second in the pentathlon gathering in 3,915 total points in the five events becoming an all-BIG EAST honoree. Meghan Moore finishing with 3,579 points placing sixth.
60m hurdles (prelims): Jade Barber (8.23-first), Nevada Sorenson (8.31-second) and Kaila Barber (8.57-third) took the top three positions for the Irish and advanced to tomorrow’s finals. Jade Barber’s (8.23) 60m hurdles time lowers her school record previously set at the Meyo this year (8.26). It is the best time in the BIG EAST thus far.
60m (prelims): Aijah Urssery qualified for the finals after placing eighth with a time of 7.56.
500m (prelims): Megan Yanik finished second, stopping the clock at 1:13.06. The time is the second fastest time thus far on the BIG EAST performance list. Yanik surpasses former Irish Tiffany Gunn’s winning time in the 2005 finals (1:13.44).
400m (prelims): Michelle Brown (first-54.26) and Margaret Bamgbose (second-54.42) nabbed the top spots in the 400m prelims and advanced to the finals. Brown’s and Bamgbose’s times are their fastest time in the event during the 2012-13 indoor track season.
200m (prelims): Jade Barber claimed a third-place finish in the preliminaries after winning her heat and placing third overall with a time of 24.17 to advance to the finals.
1,000m (prelims): McKinzie Schulz placed sixth in the event with a time of 2:55.25 and qualified for the finals.
800m (prelims): Danielle Aragon placed fifth crossing the line at 2:08.35 to secure a position in tomorrow’s finals.
Long Jump (finals): Jessie Christian (sixth-5.71m) and Kalia Barber (eighth-5.76m) each scored for Notre Dame.
Distance Medley (finals): Kelly Curran, Amber Lalla, Rebecca Tracy and Alexa Aragon all contributed to a third place finish for the Irish and receive all-BIG EAST honors with a time of 11:07.32. The time is the seventh best time in the country this season.
Women’s Weight Throw (finals): Vivien Devaney (fifth-18.39m) and Ihuoma Nwaogwugwu (eight-17.79m) crack the top-eight scored spots.
MEN’S RESULTS
Heptathlon: At the end of day one through four events, Ted Glasnow leads with 3,084 points in the heptathlon by a margin of 47 points. Dean Odegard (seventh-2,561 points) and Brent Swanberg (eighth-2,465 points) hold spots in the top eight.
60m Hurdles (prelims): Jarrod Buchanon placed seventh with a time of 8.20. Buchanon qualifies for tomorrow’s finals.
60m (prelims): Patrick Feeney takes second with a time of 6.84. The time ties Feeney for fifth with South Florida’s Alfred Higgs on the BIG EAST performance list.
500m (prelims): Chris Giesting’s winning time of 1:02.53 was just one second from tying the meet record of 1:01.02 previously set in 2008 by Seton Hall’s Greg Gomes. Giesting improves his previous mark of 1:03.17 that was set at the Notre Dame Invitational and holds firm in second place on the BIG EAST performance list.
400m (prelims): Feeney (second-47.12) and Brendan Dougherty (third-47.52) easily cruise to tomorrow’s finals.
200m (prelims): Giesting won his heat with a time of 21.24 and finished second overall. His time stands as the third best time in the BIG EAST performance list to date.
Weight Throw (finals): Anthony Thomas picks up four points for the Irish (fifth-18.51m) in the final 35LB weight throw.
800m (prelims): Eric Gebeke (1:54.05) placed sixth in the 800m prelims to advance to the finals.
1,000m (prelims): Eddy Gibbons achieved a fourth-place finish in the 1,000m with a time of 2:26.04 to advance to tomorrow’s finals.
5,000m (finals): Jake Kildoo placed fourth in the finals with a time of 14.21.80.
Pole Vault (finals): David Schipper gets on the board for the Irish, tying for sixth with Marquette’s John Kaplan with a height of 4.65m.
Long Jump (finals): Logan Renwick (fourth-7.13m) and Keith Mesidor (seventh-7.06m) got on the scoreboard for the Irish.
Distance Medley Relay (finals): DJ Thornton, Aaron Dunn, Jack Favorite and Michael Clevenger finished seventh with a time of 10:01.53.
Men’s Team Results (after five events) 1.South Florida – 44 points 2.Louisville – 25 points 3. Connecticut -25 points 4. Notre Dame – 20.5 points 5. Providence – 16 5. Georgetown – 16 7. Rutgers – 14 points 7. Villanova – 14 points 9. Syracuse – 11 points 10. Marquette – 9.5 points
Women’s Team Results (after five events) 1.Connecticut – 48 points 2. South Florida – 29 points 3. Notre Dame- 26 points 4.Louisville – 15 points 5.Pittsburgh – 14 points 6.Villanova – 13 points 7. Syracuse – 9 points 7.Rutgers- 9points 9. Cincinnati- 8 points 10.Georgetown- 7 points 11. St. John’s – 6 points 11. Providence – 6 points 13. Marquette – 5 points
School Record: Jade Barber: 60m Hurdles-8.23
All-BIG EAST
Carly Loeffel – Pentathlon
Kelly Curran – Distance Medley Relay
Amber Lalla – Distance Medley Relay
Rebecca Tracy – Distance Medley Relay
Alexa Aragon – Distance Medley Relay
–ND–