Jan. 21, 2017
By Megan Golden
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame track and field program recorded fourth place on the men’s and women’s sides in the Notre Dame Invitational at Loftus Sports Center on Saturday. The Irish finished with three individual victories in the meet.
Notre Dame concluded the meet in fourth of seven teams on the men’s side (56) behind Michigan (133), Louisville (86) and Michigan State (61). The No. 9-ranked women (66.5) also recorded a fourth-place finish (out of seven), trailing Michigan (113), Louisville (89) and North Carolina (74).
The women’s squad received promising performances from freshman Naya Sharp, who was third (8.60) in the 60m hurdles and sixth (7.64) in the 60m dash. Graduate student Molly Seidel (4:44.75), a four-time national champion, won the one-mile race, and junior Samantha Murray won the 600m (1:33.2).
On the men’s side, senior Jacob Dumford (4:06.43) recorded a first-place finish in the mile, and senior Nathan Richartz added a second-place finish (5.05m) in the pole vault.
Men’s Co-Performers of the Day
Senior Tommy Grant sprinted to a fourth-place finish in the 60m (6.89) and set a PR with a second-place finish in the 200m (21.85). Freshman Troy Pride Jr. finished third in the 60m (6.88) and seventh in the 200m dash (22.46).
The men’s sprinters impressed head coach Alan Turner, who said his squad has typically not featured many sprinters in the past.
“They’re giving me a presence in the short sprints that I haven’t had in the last two years,” he said.
Women’s Performer of the Day
Graduate student Molly Seidel competed in her first indoor race since winning two national championships last March. Seidel, who ran alongside sophomore Anna Rohrer, finished first in the mile.
“It was good to get back out there and run with Anna,” Seidel said. “It wasn’t the time I was hoping for, but for an early season race, it was good busting off the rust a little bit and getting back into that competitive mindset. It’s fun to be able to put the monogram back on.”
Turner agreed with Seidel that today was a great opportunity to “dust the rust off.”
“Molly’s Molly,” Turner said. “She just does her thing. You saw her–she looked like she was in cruise control the whole way.”
Head Coach Alan Turner Saysââ’¬¦
On the women’s distance squadââ’¬¦
“Overall, I was disappointed. Our goal was not to go out there and kill ourselves to win this meet, but it was to be competitive. We could have been a lot more competitive in a lot of areas. Other than Molly and our mid-distance races, we could have been better in distance races. That’s our strong point. We have to step it up. If we are having trouble scoring points, we are going to have trouble at future meets.”
On the men’s team’s performance overallââ’¬¦
“The men’s team, I’m not as disappointed with them because the expectations aren’t as high. I still expect them to always come out and give a competitive effort.”
On areas in which the team can improve…
“We seem to be a little flat in the 800 and in the mile–except for Molly. Dumford ran okay, but the time could have been better for him. His goal is to break four minutes, so even though he won, he’s got some work to do.”
Up Next
The Irish return to action on Jan. 27-28 at the University of Iowa, where they will compete in the Black & Gold Premier (Iowa City, Iowa).
“Overall the day was encouraging. We saw a lot of good things that weren’t necessarily reflected in the marks — a lot of technical improvements on the men’s side,” senior Nate Richartz said. “My own performance was similar; I felt like I had a better day than my marks reflected. We’re in a really good position, just in this next week of practice we really have to kind of hone in our technique and take it from there.”
Top Irish Finishers
Men’s Weight Throw: 6. Anthony Shivers, 19.48m
Women’s Shot Put: 4. Indi Jackson, 14.99m
Men’s Shot Put: 11. Logan Kusky, 15.42m
Women’s Pole Vault: 4. Kassadee Ifft, 3.7m
Women’s Long Jump: 10. Emily Carson, 5.54m
Men’s High Jump: 5. Matthew Birzer, 2.12m
Women’s 600m: 1. Samantha Murray, 1:33.02
Men’s 600m: 7. Grant Koch, 1:22.71
Women’s 1 Mile: 1. Molly Seidel, 4:44.75
Men’s Pole Vault: 2. Nate Richartz, 5.05m
Men’s 1 Mile: 1. Jacob Dumford, 4:06.43
Women’s 400m: 4. Payton Miller, 56.38
Women’s High Jump: 5. Libby Parsons, 1.59m
Men’s 400m: 7. Drake Stimson, 48.67
Women’s 60m Hurdles: 3. Naya Sharp, 8.60
Women’s 60m: 6. Naya Sharp, 7.64
Men’s 60m: 3. Troy Pride Jr., 6.88
Women’s 800m: 4. Jessica Harris, 2:09.72
Men’s 800m: 3. Patrick O’Connell, 1:51.54
Women’s 200m: 3. Kyla Lewis, 25.07
Women’s Triple Jump: 3. Taylor Craft, 12.41m
Men’s 200m: 2. Tommy Grant, 21.85
Women’s 3000m: 10. Sydni Meunier, 9:48.94
Men’s 3000m: 7. Anthony Williams, 8:25.10
Women’s 4x400m Relay: 2. Notre Dame “A”, 3:46.24
Men’s 4x400m Relay: 8. Notre Dame “A”, 3:20.17
Men’s Long Jump: 17. Jack Jesse, 6.46m
–ND–
Megan Golden, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since August of 2016. In her role, she coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse and cross country/track and field programs. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Golden is a 2014 graduate of Saint Mary’s College and former Irish women’s basketball manager. Prior to arriving at Notre Dame, she worked in public relations with the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox.