June 3, 2001
The University of Notre Dame men’s and women’s outdoor track and field 2000-01 seasons have come to an end as senior Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.) and junior Liz Grow (New Braunfels, Texas) finished up competition in the 2001 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., over the weekend.
Shay, who became the first Irish athlete since 1972 to claim an NCAA individual title in the 10,000 meters on Thursday, earned his sixth career All-America honor on Friday by taking sixth place in the 5,000 meters. He finished the race in 13:52.45, 10 seconds off the pace of champion Jonathan Riley (13:42.51) from Stanford. Shay’s vicotry in the 10,000 meters, combined with the sixth place 5,000 meter performance, was good enough for the Irish to finish 21st (13 points) in the men’s team competiton.
Shay will return to campus next fall to compete for the Irish cross country team and his six career All-America honors include three in the 10,000 meters (1999, 2000, 2001), one in cross country (12th-place finish at the 1999 NCAA meet), one in the indoor 5,000 meters (2001) and one in the outdoor 5,000 meters (2001). Those six awards place him high up on the list of Notre Dame’s all-time track and field and cross country performers, including Greg Rice (six All-America honors from 1937-39), Peter Farrell (six honor from 1965-68) and Mike McWilliams (five honors from 1992-95).
Indoor All-American Liz Grow finished 13th in the women’s 400-meter field, taking third in her heat in 53.28. This was her third consecutive appearance at the NCAA outdoor championships and she will return next season to anchor a sprint corps that nearly missed qualifying for this year’s championship in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.