May 27, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field teams will send five of their members to the 1999 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, June 2-5, in Boise, Idaho.

First-time qualifiers, senior Mike Brown (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.), junior JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), junior Jennifer Engelhardt (Battle Creek, Mich.) and sophomore Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.), will join second-time qualifier, junior Alison Klemmer (Troy, Mich.), at the championship meet. With three members, the Irish women will be sending their largest contingent ever to the outdoor championships since becoming a varsity sport in 1991.

Brown, a two-time BIG EAST champion in the outdoor pole vault, qualified for the meet with a school-record mark of 17-5 1/2, April 10 at the Purdue Invitational. The senior co-captain was a 1999 indoor All-American in the pole vault, taking sixth place after clearing a school-record 17-10 1/2.

Deeter will look to become a three-time All-American in 1998-99 after qualifying for the championships in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. She also automatically qualified earlier this season in the 3,000 meters, but chose to participate in the other two events in which she recorded the third-best qualifying marks in the country (16:04.41, 33:28.01). Earlier this year, Deeter achieved All-America status in cross country and indoor track (5,000 meters).

Engelhardt, a two-time indoor All-American, enters next week’s championships with the fifth-best qualifying mark of 6-0 3/4 in the high jump, which she set at the Mt. SAC Relays in mid-April. A two-time BIG EAST champion in the outdoor high jump, she has also won the event in five of the seven meets she has competed in this season.

Shay is making his first trip to the NCAAs in track after being Notre Dame’s lone representative at the 1998 NCAA cross country meet. The team MVP in cross country qualified for the track championships in the 10,000 meters with the 11th-best time in the country of 29:01.59, which he recorded at the Stanford Invitational on March 27. Shay follows in the footsteps of former Notre Dame All-American Jason Rexing, who ran in the 10,000-meter race three straight times from 1996-98.

Klemmer is running in her second straight NCAA championships after becoming the first Notre Dame women’s outdoor distance runner to achieve All-America status with a eighth-place time of 34:32.95 in 1998. This season, Klemmer posted a time of 34:19.19 to qualify.

1999 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
June 2-5 in Boise, Idaho
All times are local and tentative.

Wednesday, June 2                            Ryan Shay, 10,000 meters (8:30 p.m.)                                                                              Thursday, June 3                             Jennifer Engelhardt, high jump (6:15 p.m.)  JoAnna Deeter, Alison Klemmer, 10,000 meters (8:10 p.m.)
Friday, June 4Mike Brown, pole vault (6:00 p.m.)
Saturday, June 5JoAnna Deeter, 5,000 meters (8:45 p.m.)