Feb. 2, 2006
Meyo Invitational Schedule of Events
Meyo Invitational Heat Sheets
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. — This weekend, Notre Dame hosts the 19th annual Meyo Invitational at the Loftus Sports Center, beginning Friday at 5 p.m. (ET) with the women’s long jump. The first track event of the meet will be the women’s 5,000 meters, with a 7 p.m. gun time on Friday. Action continues on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. with sprint trials and slower sections of the remaining running events. Running finals will begin with the 60 meter hurdles at 2 p.m., and the marquee event, the Meyo Mile, is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. sharp.
In the past three seasons, 13 runners have broken through the magical four-minute mark in three of the most exciting Meyo Mile races at Notre Dame in recent memory.
In 2003, Irish senior Luke Watson won the race in school record time (3:57.83), moving into the lead a mere 30 meters from the finish line. After the dust had settled, the top five in the race were each in under four minutes, each within a half second of the others, and each owned one of the five fastest times in the world that year.
The 2005 race turned out to be just as thrilling, with four runners breaking the four-minute barrier, including a pair of Notre Dame athletes (Watson, running unattached, and then-sophomore Kurt Benninger). All four sub-four minute runners earned automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships, and Benninger’s personal-best time of 3:58.75 put him less than a second off Watson’s school-record mark from two years earlier.
The Meyo Invitational, as well as the Meyo Mile, are the brainchild of Irish head track coach Joe Piane. When the Loftus Center was built, Notre Dame installed a track that was oversized and topped with a Mondo surface, which produced a rare and very fast combination.
Piane recounted the invention of the Invitational, “We put the meet together because it was a huge track and it was attractive to just give it a try. The name comes from Ray Meyo, who donated everything, and we decided to highlight the mile because even the average person knows that a sub-four-minute mile is very good, so we put together a `four minute challenge,’ knowing that if the race did go under four minutes, everyone was going to say, `Wow! This is really something.'”
The mile, however, will not be the only great event on the weekend. The Meyo Invitational is always packed with outstanding performances from start to finish. A year ago, the meet saw a staggering 110 automatic or provisional qualifications for the NCAA Championships, and through the years, numerous track and school records have been shattered.
This year’s Meyo Invitational should offer its usual share of heartstopping efforts, no matter which event suits your particular taste. Besides the famed Meyo Mile, the 3,000-meter races on both the men’s and women’s sides will be highly anticipated events. In the women’s division (3:25 p.m. Saturday), Northern Arizona’s Johanna Nilsson is the headliner, coming off a record-setting performance en route to the NCAA individual cross country title in November, and having already posted provisional qualifying times for next month’s NCAA Indoor Championships in both the 800 meters and mile. Notre Dame’s Stephanie Madia, a two-time cross country All-American and third-place finisher at this year’s NCAA Championships, also is in the field, along with Illinois’ Cassie Hunt (NCAA provisional qualifier in the mile; 11th at 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships).
In the men’s 3,000 meters (3:40 p.m. Saturday), three of the top six milers in the country this year will compete, as Michigan’s Michael Woods (second), Notre Dame’s Kurt Benninger (third) and Butler’s Scott Overall (sixth) take the track. They’ll be joined by four standouts from Wisconsin’s 2005 NCAA Championship cross country team — Chris Solinsky (third), Antony Ford (14th), Stuart Eagon (17th) and Tim Nelson (18th) — as well as top-25 NCAA cross country finishers Jacob Korir of Eastern Kentucky (19th) and Tony Okello of South Alabama (25th).
If the sprints appeal to you, Saturday’s men’s 60-meter dash (trials at 11:20 a.m.; finals at 2:15 p.m.) will have some flair, with Alabama’s Chauncey Harris having posted the fourth-fastest time in the country this year (6.66 seconds) en route to an NCAA provisional qualifying berth. In the women’s 400-meter dash (2:40 p.m. Saturday), Notre Dame’s Okechi Ogbuokiri also has registered an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 54.00 seconds (seventh nationally), but she will be challenged by Western Michigan’s Becky Horn, who likewise has an NCAA provisional mark under her belt at 54.38 seconds.
The horizontal jumps could be a source of excitement this weekend as well. The men’s triple jump competition (11 a.m. Saturday) will feature a duel between Wisconsin’s Alonzo Moore, who has already automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships with a leap of 16.22 meters (second in the nation), and Clemson’s Jason Bell, who is provisionally qualified with a 15.70-meter hop, step and jump. Meanwhile, both long jump events are expected to be hotly contested. For the women (5 p.m. Friday), former Notre Dame All-American and 2004 U.S. Indoor champion Tameisha King, who is competing for the Nike club squad, leads a field that also includes Ball State’s Terri Abraham (tied for ninth in nation and NCAA provisional qualifier at 6.21 meters). As for the men (approximately 5:45 p.m. Friday), Louisville’s Andre Black has the top distance to date (7.59 meters), which is good for 10th in the land and an NCAA provisional qualification.
In the vertical jumps, the women’s pole vault (1 p.m. Saturday) offers a matchup between NCAA provisional qualifiers Mary Saxer of Notre Dame (4.05 meters, tied for third nationally) and Blair Luethmers of Wisconsin (3.97 meters, tied for 13th). The men’s pole vault (6 p.m. Friday) will spotlight Northern Iowa’s Andre Poljanec (5.36 meters, fifth in nation) and Central Michigan’s David Jones (5.30 meters, tied for eighth).
The men’s weight throw (approximately 6:15 p.m. Friday) is headlined by David Stallworth of Central Michigan, as he looks to improve upon his season-best distance of 20.97 meters, good for fifth in the nation and an NCAA provisional qualifying spot.
The complete list of participating teams is below, although some schools will be represented by individual competitors; additionally many “unattached” athletes will compete this weekend.
Participating Teams: Adidas (club), Alabama, UAB, Ball State, Brooks (club), Butler, Central Michigan, Charlotte, Clemson, Cornell, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Illinois, Iowa, Louisville, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nike (club), Northern Arizona, Northern Iowa, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Reebok (club), South Alabama, Toronto, Toronto Track (club), Valparaiso, Waterloo (Ontario), Western Michigan, Western Ontario, Windsor and Wisconsin.
— ND —