April 25, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field teams strength showed off their depth Saturday winning 11 event titles at the Indy Relays hosted by Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind. The multi-team meet was held at the Michael A. Carroll Track and Soccer Stadium at IUPUI.
The Irish women dominated the competition, earning victories in nine of the 18 events in which they participated. Nine different competitors recorded first-place finishes with each track event winner coming away with season-best times. Sophomore Liz Grow (New Braunfels, Texas) won the 200 meters in a season-best 24.18, while freshman Kymia Love (Memphis, Tenn.) earned her first career outdoor victory, placing first in the 400 meters in 56.18. Senior Patty Rice (Mishawaka, Ind.) improved her season best time with a win in the 1,500 meters (4:27.66) and freshmen Muffy Schmidt (Mile City, Mont.) and Jennifer Handley (Barrie, Ont.) helped the Irish sweep the women’s distance events with victories in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters respectively.
In the women’s field events, freshman multi-event performer Jamie Volkmer (Kearney, Neb.) improved her own school record in the pole vault by clearing 11-6, in addition to grabbing first place in the triple jump. Senior high jumper Jennifer Engelhardt (Battle Creek, Mich.), freshman long jumper Tameisha King (Mableton, Ga.) and sophomore hammer thrower Dore DeBartolo (Aurora, Ill.) each placed first to round out the Irish women’s event winners.
On the men’s side, seniors Tim Kober (Gillette, N.J.) and Marshaun West (Sikeston, Mo.), along with the 4×100-meter relay team (40.59) each earned victories in Indianapolis. Kober won the 800-meter dash in 1:49.53 and West tallied his third win of the season in the long jump with a mark of 24-8 1/2, almost a foot longer than his nearest competitor. Other highlights for the Irish included sophomore Pat Conway’s (Springfield, Va.) time of 3:50.72 in the 1,500 meters and sophomore Quill Redwine’s (San Antonio, Texas) clearance of 6-6 in the high jump and leap of 47-5 in the triple jump, all team season highs.
The Notre Dame track and field teams will be back in action this weekend at the prestigious Drake Relays, April 28-29, before heading off to the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships in Piscataway, N.J., May 5-7.