March 1, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field teams will send six of their members to the 1999 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, March 5-6, in Indianapolis, Ind.

First-time qualifiers senior Mike Brown (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.), Marshaun West (Sikeston, Mo.), senior Antonio Arce (Palmdale, Calif.) and freshman Liz Grow (New Braunfels, Texas) will join second-time qualifiers, juniors Jennifer Engelhardt (Battle Creek, Mich.) and JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) at the championship meet.

Brown, a three-time BIG EAST champion in the indoor pole vault, qualified for the meet with a mark of 17-6 1/2, which he recorded just last weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame. Brown broke his own school record with that vault and also owns the Notre Dame outdoor record of 17-3.

West will compete in the long jump after posting a school-record leap of 25-6 3/4 at the Red Simmons Invitational, Jan. 23. West would also have qualified for the NCAAs in the 200 meters, but elected to withdraw in order to concentrate on long jump.

Arce qualified for the NCAAs in the mile with a time of 4:02.48 at last weekend’s Alex Wilson Invitational. This is the first trip to the NCAAs for Arce in track, however, he competed three times at the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the Irish from 1995-97.

Grow, the only freshman to qualify, will compete in the 400 meters after posting a time of 54.05 at the Alex Wilson Invitational. Grow’s qualifying time broke her own school record of 54.89, which she set earlier in the year in a dual meet against Indiana, Jan. 29.

Engelhardt is making her second trip to the indoor championships in the high jump, after becoming the first field All-American in Notre Dame women’s track and field history with a ninth-place finish as a freshman in 1997. Engelhardt cleared 5-10 3/4 en route to a second-place finish at the 1999 BIG EAST Championships to qualify for this year’s NCAAs.

A 1999 cross country All-American, Deeter will compete in the 5,000 meters at this year’s NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Deeter ran a school record and first-place time of 16:22.64 at the BIG EAST Championships, her only indoor meet so far this season. This is the second-straight year that the junior distance runner will head to the NCAA Indoor Championships, having finished 15th in the 3,000 meters a year ago.