Molly Seidel claimed her first ACC title in the 5,000 meters on Friday at the conference indoor championships.

Seidel Shines For Irish At ACC Indoors

Feb. 27, 2015
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BLACKSBURG, Va. — Molly Seidel continued her spectacular season for the University of Notre Dame women’s track & field team, blowing away the field in the 5,000 meters to win her first conference title at the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday at Rector Field House at Virginia Tech.

Seidel bested her nearest competitor by 19 seconds, and was just a half second off the ACC Championships record with her time of 15:55.84. Seidel set the Notre Dame record two weeks ago at Iowa State (15:54.45). Her win moved the Irish women into ninth place (14 points), with several final events remaining on Saturday.

“We just went out at a pretty solid pace and I just stayed in the pack for most of it, but then I was feeling really good in the final half mile and went into a different gear,” Seidel said. “I think it was a great group of girls to go out and race with and it felt nice and smooth. I was surprised I was that close to my PR with the number of turns we had, but I think that speaks to level of competition in ACC.”

“It feels amazing. It’s a huge honor and I’m really excited to put us into a position to go in tomorrow higher on the scoreboard and set us up for a good meet. I’m excited to see what we can do. We have people in good positions going into finals and have a good day tomorrow.”

The rest of the day’s running events were preliminaries, with the Irish turning in strong showings heading into Saturday’s finals. For the women, Margaret Bamgbose placed first in the 400 meter prelims (53.79) while also qualifying in the 200 meters with a fifth-place finish (24.08). Jade Barber topped the field in the 60-meter hurdles prelims (8.24). Barber will look to defend her ACC title in the event tomorrow.

Danielle Aragon qualified for the finals in the mile with a fourth-place preliminary finish (4:47.81). In the 800 meters, Jessica Harris placed sixth (2:08.23) to earn her place in the final field.

For the men, Chris Giesting topped the 400 meter field (47.24). He will be joined by Eric Ways (7th, 47.83) in Saturday’s finals. Christopher Quinn will race in tomorrow’s mile final after placing seventh (4:07.55) in the preliminaries. Head coach Alan Turner called both Ways and Quinn’s performances pleasant surprises.

“The women didn’t do that bad and the ones who got through (to the finals) are who we thought would get through,” Turner said. “They’re still on track to be second or third.

“The people we have are poised to score for us. All of our finalists on the women’s side should be in the top three tomorrow. Those people are pretty solid.”

Action picks back up tomorrow with field event finals beginning at 10 a.m. ET, with running finals beginning at noon ET. Tomorrow’s finals will be streamed live on ESPN3. To keep up with the Irish, follow @NDXCTF on Twitter and like Notre Dame Cross Country/Track & Field on Facebook.

ACC Championships
WOMEN’S EVENTS
Standings

1. North Carolina, 48.50 points
2. North Carolina State, 41.50
3. Florida State, 28
4. Duke, 27.50
5. Wake Forest, 19.50
6. Clemson, 19
7. Miami, 16
8. Louisville, 15
9. Notre Dame, 14
10. Virginia Tech, 11.50
11. Boston College, 9
12. Syracuse, 8
13. Virginia, 6.50
14. Georgia Tech, 6
15. Pittsburgh, 3

FRIDAY
Preliminaries
Mile
4. Danielle Aragon, 4:47.81 Q
11. Taylor Driscoll, 4:52.27
26. Karen Lesiewicz, 5:03.01

60-meter hurdles
1. Jade Barber, 8.24 Q
25. Taylor Craft, 9.13

400 meters
1. Margaret Bamgbose, 53.79 Q
11. Parker English, 55.09
16. Jordan Shead, 55.84
17. Amber Lalla, 55.88

60 meters
12. Jade Barber, 7.58
Emily Carson, DNS

800 meters
6. Jessica Harris, 2:08.23 Q
10. Samantha Murray, 2:08.66
14. Jamie Marvil, 2:11.43
23. Alexis Daugherty, 2:14.37
30. Ashlyn Rambo, 2:17.33

200 meters
5. Margaret Bamgbose, 24.08 Q
19. Allison Bartoszewicz, 24.87

Finals
5,000 meters
1. Molly Seidel, 15:55.84
15. Emily Frydrych, 17:02.97

Long Jump
8. Emily Carson, 5.89m

Pole Vault
Kayla Polcari, NH

High Jump
Rachel Rhodes, NH

THURSDAY
Pentathlon

6. Rachel Rhodes, 3675
60m hurdles: 13th, 9.55
High jump: 6th, 1.67m
Shot put: 9th, 10.10m
Long jump: 8th, 5.34m
800m: 2nd, 2:16.72

Distance Medley Relay
10. Notre Dame, 11:37.91
Ashlyn Rambo, Payton Miller, Alexis Daugherty, Emily Frydrych

Weight Throw
12. Lena Madison, 17.12m
14. Ihuoma Nwaogwugwu, 16.87m
15. Emily Morris, 16.63m

MEN’S EVENTS
Standings

1. Florida State, 30.50 points
2. North Carolina, 30
3. Duke, 25
4. Virginia Tech, 24
5. North Carolina State, 23
6. Virginia, 21
7. Syracuse, 20
8. Miami, 16.50
9. Clemson, 13
10. Pittsburgh, 12
11. Louisville, 8
12. Notre Dame, 6
13. Wake Forest, 5

FRIDAY
Preliminaries
Mile
7. Christopher Quinn, 4:07.55 Q
31. Billy Dolan, 4:20.17

400 meters
1. Chris Giesting, 47.24 Q
7. Eric Ways, 47.83 Q
22. Harvey Smith, 49.11

60 meters
12. Keith Mesidor, 7.02

800 meters
13. Grant Koch, 1:52.88
24. Patrick O’Connell, 1:54.26
25. Andrew Stone, 1:54.94

200 meters
10. Harvey Smith, 21.89
16. Keith Mesidor, 22.20
19. Chris Giesting, 22.23

Finals
5,000 meters
10. Jake Kildoo, 14.24.75
11. Michael Clevenger, 14:26.42
17. Brent Kennedy, 14:46.22

High Jump
10. Hunter Holton, 2.02m

Long Jump
8. Keith Mesidor, 7.23m

Heptathlon
5. Brent Swanberg, 5,201 points
60 meters: 14th, 7.56
Long jump: 5th, 6.82m
Shot put: 9th, 12.32m
High jump: 2nd, 1.99m

60-meter hurdles: 5th, 8.57

Pole vault: 9th, 4.25m

1,000 meters: 6th, 2:48.11

THURSDAY

Distance Medley Relay
9. Notre Dame, 9:54.47
Christopher Quinn, Alex Groesch, Andrew Stone, Billy Dolan

Weight Throw

8. Dominick Padovano, 19.23m
13. Nicholas Hauser, 17.76m
16. Anthony Shivers, 16.94m

Joanne Norell, Media Relations Assistant

–ND–