June 8, 2013
EUGENE, Ore. – Three members of the University of Notre Dame men’s and women’s track and field teams finalized the outdoor season with top finishes at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships Saturday evening inside historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Seniors Rebecca Tracy (Barrington, Ill.) and Jeremy Rae (Fort Erie, Ont.) closed out their careers with top-five finishes in the 1,500m.
Tracy, a 2012 outdoor All-American, recorded her fasted time of the season (4:14.42) in the 1,500m, placing fourth in the finals. The senior was .12 from third-place finisher Amanda Mergaert (Utah) and 1.17 from event champion Natalja Piliusina (Oklahoma State). After finishing runner-up in the 1,500m at the 2013 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships behind BIG EAST foe Emily Lipari (Villanova), Tracy was four seconds faster than Lipari when it counted the most.
Rae, a two-time indoor distance medley relay All-American, placed fifth in the 1,500m, registering a time of 3:51.07. Rae was just .77 from fourth-place finisher Austin Mudd (Wisconsin) and less than a second from event champion Mac Fleet (Oregon).
Junior Alexa Aragon (Billings, Mont.) joined the pair on the final day, achieving an eight-place finish in the 3,000m steeplechase.
Aragon stopped the clock at 9:57.26, just eight one hundredths from seventh-place finisher Grace Heymsfield (Arkansas). It was the second straight outing in which the junior has ran under the 10-minute mark in the event.
Sophomore Carly Loeffel (Cary, Ill.) placed 15th in heptathlon Friday evening. Throughout the four-day contest, a program-high 14 Irish student-athletes competed in the national meet.
All four student-athletes are expected to claim All-America accolades. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will officially announce All-America honorees sometime this week. First-team USTFCCCA All-America honors are awarded to those who earn any portion of a team point at the national championships, or reach an eight-entrant final. Second-team All-America honors are handed out to those whose final placing in the national meet range from ninth to 16th place.
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