SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Fighting Irish track and field team opened their indoor season with their first home meet of the year, the Blue and Gold Invitational. The meet featured ten other programs who came to Loftus Sports Center to kick off the indoor season.
Emma Albano took home second place in the women’s weight throw with a 16.80m mark. DePaul’s Martin claimed first place with a mark of only just over a meter farther than Albano. Women’s pole vault had two Fighting Irish who placed in the top three. Olivia Fabry took second place and Alexandra Chlumsky took third place. Fabry hit a mark of 3.40m (11’1.75″), and Chlumsky hit 3.25m (10’8″).
The men’s weight throw saw Michael Shoaf take second place as well with a toss of 18.16m. Blake Kusky and Matthew Teague also threw in the weight throw. Kusky took fifth place with a mark of 17.15m and Teague registered a 16.25m throw. O’Brien also took first in the women’s shot put with a mark of 13.80m (45’3.50″) and Emma Albano took sixth with a toss of 12.81m (42’0.50″).
Jadin O’Brien and Alaina Brady put on a show by taking first and second place in the 60m hurdles with times of 8.58 and 8.62. Freshman Reese Sanders flew through the finish line at 9.09 right behind her Irish teammates. In the men’s 60m dash, Paul Baynes tied for ninth with a time of 7.06. Shae Douglas ran in the women’s 60m dash with a time of 7.73 and took fourth place.
In the 1000m run, Nick Miller took second place with a time of 2:27.54. The women’s one mile run, Molly Grant claimed second place when she crossed the finish line at 5:04.79. Teammate Elizabeth Schmidt took tenth place with a time of 5:24.76 in the one mile run.The 400m run had one Irish runner in Kaitlin Ryan who took second place when she crossed the finish line at 57.58.
The women’s 500 meter run had the Irish take second through fifth place. Eve Balseiro took second place (1:16.67), Reese Sanders took third place (1:17.90), Remy Finn took fourth place (1:18.33), and Molly Bennett took fifth place (1:20.04). Juliana Keenan took ninth place with a time of 1:26.96. In the men’s 500 meter run, Matthew Cornelius took third place with a time of 1:06.63.
Paige Grant took home first place in the women’s 800 meter run with a time of 2:14.61. Catherine Coffey was right behind Grant crossing the finish line at 2:16.68 for second place.
The high jump was headlined by Madison Schmidt who took home first place with a mark of 1.75m (5’8.75″). Arianna Martinez and Sarah Flight were also in the top five finishing in fourth and fifth each with a mark of 1.65m (5’5″). In the long jump, Jadin O’Brien took third place with a mark of 5.88m (19’3.50″). Kendall Burgess took sixth place hitting 5.79m (19’0”). Alaina Brady hit 5.40m (17’8.75”) for eighth place.
The meet capped off with the 4x400m relay teams. First and second place was claimed by Notre Dame teams of Remy Finn, Alaina Brady, Madison Schmidt, and Eve Balseiro (3:53.86) as well as Molly Bennet, Reese Sanders, Jadin O’Brien, and Kaitlin Ryan (3:54.26). The women’s team of Juliana Keenan, Molly Grant, Paige Grant, and Catherine Coffey took sixth place with a time of 4:09.15.