March 3, 1999

Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field teams will send six of their members to the 1999 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, March 5-6, in Indianapolis, Ind. This is the largest number of athletes Notre Dame has sent to the championships since 1997 when the Irish sent seven to the championships.

First-time qualifiers, senior Mike Brown (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.), Marshaun West (Sikeston, Mo.), senior Antonio Arce (Palmdale, Calif.) and freshman Liz Grow (New Braunfels, Texas), will join second-time qualifiers, juniors Jennifer Engelhardt (Battle Creek, Mich.) and JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), at the championship meet.

Brown, a three-time BIG EAST champion in the indoor pole vault, qualified for the meet with a mark of 17-6 1/2, which he recorded just last weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame. Brown broke his own school record and the Alex Wilson Invitational record with that vault and also owns the Notre Dame outdoor record of 17-3. Brown’s vault was the 10th-best in the nation this year.

West will compete in the long jump after posting a school-record leap of 25-6 3/4 at the Red Simmons Invitational, Jan. 23. West would also have qualified for the NCAAs in the 200 meters, but elected to withdraw in order to concentrate on long jump.

Arce qualified for the NCAAs in the mile with a his second-place time of 4:02.48 at last weekends Alex Wilson Invitational. This is the first trip to the NCAAs for Arce in track, however, he competed three times at the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the Irish from 1995-97.

Grow, the only Irish freshman to qualify, will compete in the 400 meters after posting a second-place time of 54.05 at the Alex Wilson Invitational, the 12th-fastest time in the nation this year. Grows qualifying time broke her own school record of 54.89, which she set earlier in the year in a dual meet against Indiana, Jan. 29.

Engelhardt is making her second trip to the indoor championships in the high jump, after becoming the first field All-American in Notre Dame womens track and field history with a ninth-place finish as a freshman in 1997. Engelhardt cleared 5-10 3/4 en route to a second-place finish at the 1999 BIG EAST Championships to qualify for this years NCAAs.

A 1998 cross country All-American, Deeter will compete in the 5,000 meters at this years NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Deeter ran a school record and first-place time of 16:22.64 at the BIG EAST Championships, her only indoor meet so far this season. This is the second-straight year that the junior distance runner will head to the NCAA Indoor Championships, having finished 15th in the 3,000 meters a year ago.

Alex Wilson Invitational Recap: Notre Dame finished up its indoor track and field regular season this past weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame’s Loftus Center. Junior Marshaun West placed first in the long jump with a leap of 24-11 3/4, and freshman Derek Dyer (Huntington, Ind.) won the shot put with a toss of 52-3 1/4. Sophomore Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.) ran away with the 5,000-meter run as he finished with a first-place time of 14:13.88, 17 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. Sophomore Terry Wray (Brandon, Miss.) blazed to victory in the 500 meters with his time of 1:03.52, while senior Adrian Irby (Citrus Heights, Calif.) placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 47-8.

On the women’s side, junior Jennifer Engelhardt picked up one of the Notre Dame women’s two first-place finishes at the Alex Wilson Invitational as she won the high jump competition with her mark of 5-8 3/4. Senior Erin Newman (Carmel, Ind.) was the other first-place finisher as she outsprinted teammate Cara Motter (Brawley, Calif.) to the finish line to win the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:59.32. Senior Nadia Schmiedt (London, Ont.) placed second in the 60-meter hurdles with her time of 8.74, while Kelle Saxen (Canton, Ohio) finished second in the high jump with a height of 5-3 1/4.

  JANUARY15-16   Purdue Invitational                NTS23      Red Simmons Inviational            NTS29      Indiana                            W, 82-78 (Women)                                           L, 78-84 (Men)
FEBRUARY5-6     adidas/Meyo Invitational           NTS13      Wolverine Open                     NTS       (Ann Arbor, Mich.)20-21   BIG EAST Championships       (Syracuse, N.Y.)                    M,2nd;W,3rd26-27   Alex Wilson Invitational           NTS       (Notre Dame, Ind.)
MARCH5-6     NCAA Championships               (Indianapolis, Ind.)

Outdoor Track & Field

MARCH26-27   Purdue Invitational       (West Lafayette, Ind.)27-28   Stanford Invitational       (Palo Alto, Calif.)APRIL3       Butler, Miami & Western Michigan       (Notre Dame, Ind.)10      Miami Invitational       (Oxford, Ohio)10      Purdue, Wyoming & Central Mich.       (West Lafayette, Ind.)17-18   Mt. Sac Invitational       (Walnut, Calif.)17      Indiana St. Invitational       (Terre Haute, Ind.)23-24   Drake Relays       (Des Moines, Iowa)24      Purdue Relays       (West Lafayette, Ind.)MAY1-2     BIG EAST Championships       (Villanova, Pa.)8       Western Michigan       (Kalamazoo, Mich.)15      Billy Hayes Invitational       (Bloomington, Ind.)22      Georgia Tech Invitational       (Atlanta, Ga.)22-23   ICAAAA Championships       (Fairfax, Va.)JUNE2-5     NCAA Championships       (Boise, Idaho)