Todd Ptacek 2006-07 Cross Country Roster

AS A JUNIOR: Made four varsity appearances for the Irish cross country team … ran 25:02 on the Notre Dame home course to take 61st at the Notre Dame Invitational … was the team[apos]s sixth runner at the Pre-National Meet where he finished 57th in 24:45 … placed 26th at the BIG EAST Championship with a time of 25:23, contributing to the team[apos]s first-place finish … competed at his first NCAA Championship, where he was the sixth finisher for the third-place Irish, running the 10,000-meter course in 31:43.2 … set career bests in each of his primary events on the track … ran the 800 meters at the Notre Dame Invitational, finishing fourth in 1:51.54 … competed in the Meyo Mile at the Meyo Invitational, establishing a career best with a time of 4:05.36 … qualified for the BIG EAST Indoor Championship in three events … ran the 1,000 meters at the league meet, emerging from the preliminaries with the top time and a career best of 2:25.51, the seventh-fastest performance in school history … wound up taking sixth in the final heat … earned a BIG EAST title as a member of the distance medley relay with Austin Wechter, Brett Adams, and Vinny Ambrico (ran the 1,200-meter leg of the race) … clocked a 4:06.58 mile at the Alex Wilson Invitational to close out his indoor season … set a career best while breaking the nine-minute barrier in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Stanford Invitational; his time of 8:58.05 also qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional … had a career-best 1,500-meter performance at the Indy Relays, running 3:50.25 for second … had a huge BIG EAST outdoor meet — ran 3:50.48 in the preliminaries of the 1,500 meters to qualify for the final, where he finished seventh and earned points for the team champion … narrowly missed out on a BIG EAST title in the steeplechase, taking a runner-up finish with a time of 9:04.19 … managed to run another career best in the 1,500 meters at the Georgia Tech Invitational (3:49.22) … closed his season at the NCAA Mideast Regional, where he finished 12th in a 28-athlete steeplechase field, running 9:07.84.

AS A SOPHOMORE: Came on strong during the track season after his cross country season was spoiled by injury … had a breakthrough meet at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships, competing in the 4×800 meter relay and the 1,000 meter run … just missed all-BIG EAST honors in the 1,000 meters by placing fourth in a time of 2:26.29 that ranks as the ninth-fastest in school history… helped the 4×800 meter relay team finished second in 7:38.09 … joined on that relay by Eric Morrison, Adam Currie, and Brett Adams … followed up that performance by placing 10th in the mile at the Alex Wilson Invitational (4:05.57) … concentrated on the 3,000 meter steeplechase in the outdoor season … placed sixth in his section of the steeplechase at the Stanford Invitational (9:05.40) … ran well at the Indy Relays, placing third in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:50.55 … competed with Morrison, Adams and Jake Watson in the 4×1600-meter relay at the Drake Relays … ran a 1,600-meter split of 4:09 … qualified for the BIG EAST Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and earned all-BIG EAST honors with a third-place finish (9:06.12) … qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional in the 3,000 meter steeplechase where he ran 9:12.17 for 10th place.

AS A FRESHMAN: Competed in his first three career cross country meets … finished 23rd at the Valparaiso Invitational, 49th at the National Catholic and 30th in the Notre Dame Invitational gold division race … attempted several different distances during the 2004 indoor track and field season, eventually qualifying for the BIG EAST indoor meet in the 1,000 meters (2:29.42) and mile (4:18.35) … did not compete as an individual at the BIG EAST indoor meet, but helped the 4×800-meter relay team of Kevin Somok, Eric Morrison and Ryan Hurd finish fourth in 7:42.24 … focused on the steeplechase during the 2004 outdoor season, winning his first collegiate event at the Indy Relays – finishing first in 9:14.40 … took fifth in the BIG EAST outdoor meet in the steeplechase (9:15.93).

HIGH SCHOOL AND PERSONAL: Multi-sport standout at Lake Michigan Catholic in St. Joseph, Mich. … earned 16 varsity letters in his prep career on five different teams (cross country, golf, basketball, track and field and football) … 2003 Southwest Michigan Athlete of the Year … led the 2002 cross country team to an undefeated conference record … won the Berrien County cross country individual title as well as the Red Arrow Conference championship … took home conference championships in the 800 and 1,600 meters as a senior … moved on to claim regional titles in the 4×3,200 meters, 800, 1,600 and 5,000 meters … ended up as the Berrien County 1,600-meter runner up in 2002 and 2003, while finishing third in the 800 meters in [apos]03 … helped the cross country team finish fourth at the 2002 state meet … highly involved in extra-curricular activities, including National Honor Society, class treasurer, choir, Youth to Youth, Spanish Club, Academic Challenge, Tutor Principal List and preschool mentor … youngest of two children … born April 2, 1985, in St. Joseph, Mich. … enrolled in the College of Engineering as a mechanical engineering major (3.793 cumulative grade-point average through spring 2006) … has earned Dean[apos]s List honors four times in six semesters at Notre Dame, most recently carding a perfect 4.0 GPA in the fall of 2005 and a 3.722 GPA in the spring of 2006.