Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Notre Dame Men's Track and Field Hopes to Gain Momentum This Weekend

April 19, 2001

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WHO:

The Notre Dame men’s outdoor track and field team

WHAT:

2001 Mt. SAC Relays and 2001 Indy Invitational

WHERE:

Walnut, Calif., and Indianapolis, Ind.

WHEN:

Friday, April 20, thru Sunday, April 22

Irish continue to show improvement throughout the roster:

The University of Notre Dame men’s track and field team will split in two this weekend for the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., and the Indy Invitational in Indianapolis, Ind.. The Irish are coming off of a third place finish in the Tom Botts Invitational in Columbia, Mo., last weekend and a second place finish in the Spring Opener at home two weeks ago.

Pat Conway, Derek Dyer, Tom Gilbert, Quill Redwine and Ryan Shay will make up the men’s team representatives at the 2001 Mt. SAC Relays. The rest of the team will be making the trip to Indianapolis for the Indy Invitational on Saturday, April 21.

Irish continue preparations for BIG EAST outdoor championship: The Notre Dame men’s track team is beginning to take shape into a contending team at the 2001 BIG EAST outdoor track and field championship in Piscataway, NJ, next month. Senior All-American distance specialist Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.) will be a favorite in both the BIG EAST Championship and the NCAA Championship in the 10,000-meter run. Shay ran a 28:40.03 time in the 10,000 at the Stanford Invitational on March 31st, the fourth-best time in the nation this year.

This weekend, Shay will make the trip to the Mt. SAC relays and compete in the 5,000 meters, attempting to qualify for the NCAA Championship in a second event. Shay has run the 5,000 in 14:43.51 this season at the Spring Opener. Shay will not be alone in the BIG EAST 10,000 meter run, either. Teammates Todd Mobley (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Sean McManus (Hernando, Fla.) have qualified for the BIG EAST Championship race.

The Irish distance corps received a boost last weekend when cross country All-American Pat Conway (Springfield, Va.) began competition in the outdoor season. Conway won the 1,500 meters at the Tom Botts Invitational in a personal-best 3:50.09. Conway will run his second 1,500 meter race a the Mt. SAC Relays this weekend. Freshman David Alber (Dayton, Ohio) also has helped the team with two consecutive solid finishes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, posting a top time of 9:26.79 at the Tom Botts Invitational.

Long jump specialist Tom Gilbert (Rock Falls, Ill.) also will be at the Mt. SAC event, attempting to improve his 6.81m (22-4 1/4) leap from the Arizona State Invitational. Freshman Godwin Mbagwu (Petersburg, Va.) matched Gilbert’s mark last week at the Tom Botts Invitational and also boasts the top triple jump measurement on the team (14.40m, 47-3) for the outdoor season. Junior Quill Redwine (San Antonio, Texas) also has been steady in the triple jump (season-best 13.82m effort) and has really stepped up to the challenge in the high jump. Redwine finished second in the high jump at the Tom Botts Invitational last weekend after winning the Spring Opener high jump competition with a career-best 2.10m (6-10 3/4) effort. Redwine will compete in both events at the Mt. SAC Relays this weekend.

Junior Derek Dyer (Huntington, Ind.) has been Notre Dame’s most consistent thrower this season, posting team-bests in the shot put (47-4 1/4) and the discus (179-11). Dyer’s 179-11 discus throw at the Spring Opener was a personal best for the two-year monogram winner and he hopes to even toss a better mark at the Mt. SAC event this weekend.

Junior Josh Heck (Mishawaka, Ind.) is another field event athlete that seems to be at the top of his game this season. Heck cleared a personal-best 16-0 in the pole vault at the Tom Botts Invitational last weekend.

Check out the results: Results of this weekend’s Mt. SAC relays will be available on http://ibm.mtsac.edu and the official Notre Dame athletic website: www.und.com.