March 24, 2016
By Lizzie Mikes
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame track program is ready to start the outdoor portion of their season, splitting up between two meets March 25-26. Irish middle-distance and distance runners are headed to North Carolina State’s Paul Derr Track And Field Facility for the Raleigh Relays Friday and Saturday, while the sprint racers are headed to the George C. Griffin Track at Georgia Tech for the Yellow Jacket Invitational.
Kaila Barber, who had a strong indoor season, leads the Irish in Atlanta this weekend.
Heading to Atlanta on the women’s team is as follows:
Kaila Barber – GS – Middleburg Heights, Ohio – sprints, hurdles
Mikaila Chamblee – SR – South Bend, Ind. – sprints, hurdles
Alexa Coubal – FR – Thousand Oaks, Calif. – throws
Taylor Craft – JR – Fremont, Calif. – sprints, hurdles
Parker English – SO – Evanston, Ill. – sprints
Kyla Lewis – FR – Rockville, Md. – sprints
Carly Loeffel – GS – Cary, Ill. – multi-events
Lena Madison – SR – New Buffalo, Mich. – throws
Payton Miller – SO – Golden, Colo. – sprints
Jordan Shead – SO – St. Charles, Ill. – sprints
Brett Whalen – SO – Camp Hill, Pa. – throws
For the men’s team, Matt Birzer (FR, Leawood, Kansas, jumps), Aaron Dunn (SR, Bellefontaine, Ohio, hurdles), Alex Groesch (JR, St. Louis, Mo. Sprints), Dan Hardiman (FR, Farmington, Connecticut, throws), Hunter Holton (SO, Pataskala, Ohio, hurdles/jumps), Drake Stimson (SO, Cincinnati, Ohio, jumps) and Brent Swanberg (SR, Manhattan, Illinois, multi-events) are making the trip.
The Irish are taking a much smaller contingent to Raleigh, featuring Rachel DaDamio (FR, Bloomfield Village, Michigan, distance), Kaitlin Frei (SO, Winnetka, Illinois, distance), Kelly Hart (FR, Yorktown, Virginia, middle distance), Stephanie Knight (SO, Maple Plain, Minnesota, distance), Samantha Murray (SO, Defiance, Ohio, distance), Lexi Pelletier (JR, Hampton, New Hampshire, distance) and Ashlyn Rambo (SO, Yorba Linda, California, distance) on the women’s team, and Tim Ball (SR, New Brunswick, New Jersey, distance), John Flannery (SO, Bronxville, New York, distance), Grant Koch (JR, Tipp City, Ohio, middle distance), Brent Kennedy (SO, Allegheny Township, Pennsylvania, distance) and Kevin Pulliam (SO, McLean, Virginia, distance) from the men’s.
Notably sitting out this weekend’s meets is four-time NCAA Champion and women’s 10,000m defending title-holder Molly Seidel, and freshman distance star Anna Rohrer. Both are expected be in action at the Stanford Invitational April 1-2.
In Raleigh, the meet will be live-streamed by FloTrack and ESPN3, with live stats available here. In Atlanta, live stats will be available through results.deltatiming.com. Full recaps from both days will be available on und.com.
— ND —
Lizzie Mikes serves as Media Services Coordinator at the University of Notre Dame. A 2013 graduate of Johnson & Wales University, she oversees credential management and is the athletic communications director for Fighting Irish men’s and women’s swimming and diving and track and field. She has assisted with numerous NCAA postseason events hosted by Notre Dame, and is heavily involved in the day-to-day tasks of the athletic communications office.