Feb. 22, 2003
Syracuse, N.Y. – The Notre Dame women were in first, and the men were in second after day one of the 2003 BIG EAST Track and Field Championships. The women, behind victories by the distance medley relay and Jaime Volkmer in the pole vault, had 36.50 points after today’s action. The men, with 29 points, trail only Connecticut with 34 points after the first day.
The most excting race of the day was the women’s distance medley in which the team of sophomore Lauren King, sophomore Tricia Floyd, junior Megan Johnson and freshman Molly Huddle set a BIG EAST meet record finishing in 11:24.45. The Irish broke the old record of 11:28.51 set by West Virginia in 2002. In today’s race, Notre Dame and Villanova were neck-and-neck, when Huddle kicked it into high gear with about 200 meters to go and blew away her nearest challenger. Villanova finished in 11:25.60.
Volkmer also set a BIG EAST meet record in the pole vault as she vaulted 13-1 1/2 feet (4.00 meters). It was an NCAA provisional mark and a personal best for Volkmer who broke her own Notre Dame record of 3.90 meters set against Michigan State earlier this season.
On the men’s side, the Irish were paced by freshman Tim Moore who won the 5,000 meters in a time of 14:26.78. Moore hung back in the pack for the first half of the race and then took the lead and never looked back. Moore’s teammate, Irish senior John Keane, finished third in the same race with a time of 14:34.99.
Only five events in the meet held finals Saturday, with most event finals coming tomorrow. In other events completed Saturday, the Notre Dame men’s distance medley relay team placed third with a time of 10:00.55. Also, in the 35-pound weight throw, sophomore Chip Roberts finished eighth (15.83 meters, 51′ 11.25″) and Juan Alba was ninth (15.72 meters, 51′ 7″). Godwin Mbagwu posted an ninth-place finish in the long jump, leaping 6.95 meters (22′ 9.75″). Paul Barber finished sixth in the pentahalon with a total of 3,533 points. Barber’s best finish in an individual event in the pentahalon was second place in the 1,000 meters (2:45.49).
On the women’s side senior Tamiesha King was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 20-1 1/2 (6.13 meters), freshman Meghan Horn was 13th in the weight throw at 42-10 3/4 (13.07) and freshman Stacy Cowan was fourth in the pentathlon with 3,315 points.
The Notre Dame men had some strong showings in several of the preliminary races held on Saturday, and many athletes qualified to run in the finals of those events on Sunday. The best performance was put on by sophomore Selim Nurudeen in the 60-meter hurdles. Nurudeen not only won his heat, but also posted the fastest qualifying time, 7.94 seconds. He will be the top seed in the finals Sunday. Nurudeen also qualified for the finals in the 60-meter dash finishing in a time of 6.94 seconds, which gave him the seventh-fastest qualifying time in the preliminaries. Notre Dame junior Ryan Hurd placed second in his qualifying race in the 200-meter dash, with a time of 21.96 seconds, which was the fifth-fastest qualifying time.
The women also did well on Saturday as King qualified second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.54 and senior Kymia Love was seventh in 7.63. In the 400-meter dash, Notre Dame had two finishers in the top five as Love posted the fastest time in 55.43 and junior Kristen Dodd had the fifth-best time in 56.14. In the 500 meters, sophomore Tiffany Gunn had the sixth-best time in 1:14.45, while sophomore Kerry Meagher was seventh in the 1,000 meters in a season- and career-best time of 2:52.90. King also posted the fifth-best time in the 60-meter hurdles at 8:58.
The meet resumes Sunday with the finals of the women’s 1,000 meters at 11:00 a.m.
(for complete results, please visit www.bigeast.org