JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Memorial Day Weekend holiday got off to a great start for a collection of Notre Dame’s track and field stars, as nine placed in the top 12 of their respective events to earn a bid to the 2023 NCAA Championships. The meet will take place June 7-10 at the University of Texas.
The men got the ball rolling in Wednesday’s field events. Graduate student John Keenan finished sixth overall in the javelin (71.94 M), and Michael Shoaf took ninth in the shot put (18.94 M). Shoaf — a senior from outside of Cleveland — won the event at the 2023 ACC Championships.
Erin Strzelecki was the first to punch her ticket on the women’s side, finishing 11th in the 10000M on Thursday night. Her time of 33:57.37 was a personal best by almost 17 seconds and the fastest time by an Irish runner this year. The Indiana native will make her first NCAA appearance on the track, as she has previously only qualified for NCAA Cross Country Championships.
A pair of Irish men qualified for Austin on Friday, both of whom earned podium spots at ACCs. For the second year in a row, Tom Seitzer took a top-12 spot. Seitzer snuck in at No. 12 with a time of 8:49.92. Carter Solomon continued his dominance in the 5000M, easily qualifying with a second-place finish and a time of 13:53.59.
Saturday was Notre Dame’s best in terms of tickets punched, as four women inked a spot in Austin. Madison Schmidt got the party started with a 1.77-meter performance in the high jump to take 12th. The junior has made regionals each year of her Irish career, but third time’s the charm — she is headed to NCAA Championships for the first time.
Notre Dame has recently taken on the informal title of “Steeple Chase U,” and that descriptor held true in Jacksonville. Olivia Markezich won the event by almost two seconds (9:52.54), and Tennessee graduate transfer Katie Thronson took fourth with a time of 9:58.28. Notre Dame was the only school with two NCAA qualifiers. The women took first and second place at ACCs a few weeks ago.
Lastly, Nova Scotia native and St. Francis Xavier University transfer Siona Chisholm will head to her first NCAAs after taking fourth place in the 5000M event. She posted a personal best time of 15:37.81.
In addition to the nine athletes that qualified for NCAAs this weekend, Jadin O’Brien and Alaina Brady had already punched their tickets to The Show in the heptathlon. With national rankings of No. 5 and No. 19, respectively, the two women cracked the top 24 mark required to compete at the top level.
Up next, the 11 Domers will head to Austin from June 7-10. Information on and tickets for the meet can be found here.