Senior Jake Watson finished second in the 1,500 meters and was part of Notre Dame's second-place 4x800-meter relay team, helping the Irish to their fourth BIG EAST outdoor title in the past six years.

Watson Leads Notre Dame At Second Day Of Alex Wilson Invitational

March 8, 2008

Complete Results

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Senior Jake Watson (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater) improved his chances of being selected to next week’s NCAA Championships by winning the mile run Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational. Watson just missed eclipsing the four-minute mile barrier but finished with a personal-best time of 4:00.39, winning by almost three seconds.

Watson broke away from a bunched-up field with just over 400 meters to go and pulled away for the convincing victory. His time is the 17th fastest in Division I this year and ranks sixth all-time at Notre Dame.

Watson’s great performance Saturday highlighted a successful weekend for the Irish. Junior Alyissa Hasan (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South) increased her chances of qualifying for the pentathlon Friday evening and the men’s distance medley team should qualify for next week’s championships based on their time Friday.

“This was a great weekend for us and many other teams. It looks like Alyissa and the men’s DMR did enough last night to qualify for the NCAA Championships,” Irish head coach Joe Piane said. “Jake’s mile today was really good to see and we’re pretty confident he’ll also get in.”

A total of 90 provisional or automatic qualifying times or distances were recorded this weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational. Below is an event-by-event recap of Saturday’s action:

WOMEN’S 60 METER DASH: Central Michigan’s Tempestt Stanford raced to the win with a time of 7.68. Stanford defeated Arlaina Davis (who competed unattached) and Meredith Kosmacek-Simon of Northern Iowa.

WOMEN’S 200 METER DASH: Chelsea Taylor from Alabama ran away from the field in her heat and cruised to the win in 24.06. Western Michigan’s Victoria Chatman ran 24.60 to finish second while Stephanie Williams of XX finished third in 24.81.

WOMEN’S 400 METER DASH: The University of Mississippi claimed the top two spots as LaJada Baldwin and Kenyata Coleman both ran provisionally-qualifying times. Baldwin claimed top honors by running 53.55 with her Ole Miss teammate right behind her at 53.67. Jenaie Edwards of Central Michigan finished third in 54.75.

WOMEN’S 800 METER RUN: Five of the 14 fastest times in the 800 this year were run Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational. Erica Moore of Indiana State won the first section in 2:05.77, the sixth-best time this year. Western Michigan’s Becky Horn ran the eighth-fastest time this season and won the second section in 2:06.13. Horn was followed in her heat by Laura Hermanson of North Dakota State at 2:06.34 and BYU’s Carlee Platt in 2:06.41. Molly Beckwith of Indiana was runner-up in the first section and ran 2:06.67, the 14th-best time this year. A total of nine runners earned provisionally-qualifying times. Jacqueline Carter was Notre Dame’s top finisher in 17th place at 2:12.74 while Abby Higgins finished in 18th at 2:14.95.

WOMEN’S MILE RUN: A tremendous field in the mile yielded 13 NCAA provisional marks and one automatic bid to next week’s championships. Dacia Barr from the University of Arkansas recorded the 10th-best time in the country this year, winning in 4:39.07. Colorado’s Sara Vaughn was the runner-up at 4:40.02 while Princeton’s Liz Costello finished third in 4:40.37 and Angela Wagner of BYU was fourth at 4:40.44. Vaughn’s time currently ranks as the 14th-best time in the nation while Costello and Wagner rank 16th and 17th, respectively.

WOMEN’S 3000 METER RUN: Toni-Lynn Salucci, competing unattached, won the 3000 meter run in 9:32.80. Genni Gardner of Butler was the runner-up at 9:35.73.

WOMEN’S 60 METER HURDLES: Illinois’ LaNeisha Waller ran 8.26 in the prelims to give her the 15th-fastest time in the country this season. Waller won the finals in 8.28, ahead of Cincinnati’s Monica Hundley (8.32) and Leah Kincaid of Purdue (8.34).

WOMEN’S 4×400 METER RELAY: A phenomenal 52-second anchor leg by Western Michigan’s Becky Horn carried the Broncos to victory and the fourth-fastest time this season. Western Michigan won the race in 3:34.88 and was one of three teams that ran times that put them in the top ten on the performance lists. Arkansas was the runner-up in 3:35.10 (the sixth-best time in the country) and Mississippi finished in 3:35.27 (the seventh-fastest time). Miami (FL) clocked in at 3:36.19, good for the 10th-best time this year.

WOMEN’S POLE VAULT: Stephanie Chin of Indiana bettered her provisional qualifying mark to 4.14 meters in winning the pole vault. Chin now is tied for 11th in the nation. Her teammate, Vera Neuenswander, finished second while Wisconsin’s Jenny Soceka placed third.

WOMEN’S LONG JUMP: Michigan’s Casey Taylor won with a distance of 5.92 meters, edging Purdue’s Leah Kincaid who jumped 5.89 meters. Whitney Carlson of North Dakota State was third at 5.84 meters.

WOMEN’S TRIPLE JUMP: Renee White of Iowa recorded a provisional-qualifying distance of 12.78 meters to win the triple jump. Michigan’s Casey Taylor was second (12.37m) and Eunique Hamilton of Rice was third (12.00m).

MEN’S 60 METER DASH: Dominique Worley of Illinois won an exciting 60 meter dash in 6.74 seconds. Worley edged Anthony Cole of Ohio State by 0.01 and Louisville’s Edmund Yeboah by 0.05.

MEN’S 200 METER DASH: Ohio State’s Anthony Cole ran the 13th-fastest 200 meter time this year, winning Saturday in 21.07 seconds. Mississippi’s Rickie Bratton finished second in 21.26 and Jh’Rome Tuggle of Purdue finished third in 21.58.

MEN’S 400 METER DASH: The top three finishers all ran provisionally-qualifying times including Michael Cooley of Alabama and Auburn’s Reuben McCoy. Cooley won a blistering 400 in 46.53 (the sixth-fastest time in the country) while McCoy was second in 46.61 (the seventh-fastest time this season). Northern Iowa’s Terrence Reid finished third in 46.97 seconds.

ALEX WILSON 800 METER RUN: In perhaps the best individual performance all weekend, Central Michigan’s Abraham Mach ran the third-fastest 800 meters this year. Mach pulled away from the field in the final 300 meters to record the automatic qualifying time of 1:47.33. Each of the next eight finishes recorded provisional-qualifying times, led by Dorian Ulrey of Northern Iowa (1:49.13) and Virginia’s Sean Tully (1:49.39).

MEN’S 800 METER RUN: Louisville’s Chris Danks raced to the win in the 800 meter run in 1:49.76. Danks sprinted away from Cory Olson of North Dakota State (1:50.52) and Wisconsin’s Luke Rucks (1:50.63). Jamal Afridi was the top Notre Dame finisher at 11th place (1:51.99). Jack Howard finished 21st (1:53.80) and Kevin Labus was 23rd (1:54.64) for the Irish.

MEN’S MILE RUN: Notre Dame’s Jake Watson pulled away from the field over the final 400 meters to win the mile Saturday. Watson’s time was the sixth-best in school history and 17th-fastest in the country this season. Alabama’s Emmanuel Bor finished second in 4:03.32 while Dartmouth’s Harry Norton ran 4:03.69 to claim third place. Notre Dame’s Daniel Clark won the first section in 4:06.20, coming from behind in the last 80 meters to pass his teammate, Patrick Smyth. Clark’s time was good for ninth overall while Smyth had the 10th-fastest time Saturday at 4:06.71. Kevin McFadden (4:13.00), Ryan Gamboa (4:18.38) and Spencer Carter (4:38.48) also competed for the Irish.

MEN’S 3000 METER RUN: Louisville’s Cory Thorne ran away from the field and won in 8:00.98. Andy Biladeau of Virginia was second in 8:04.30 and Francis Kasagule of Lamar finished in third at 8:09.23. Notre Dame’s Jake Walker was fourth in 8:12.87.

MEN’S 60 METER HURDLES: Northern Iowa’s Jarrel Anderson ran a provisional-qualifying time of 7.88 in the finals and cruised to victory. David Ford from Georgia Tech ran 7.99 to finish second while Brian Kaluf of Purdue finished third in 8.00 seconds.

MEN’S 4×400 METER RELAY: Wisconsin ran its fastest time of the season as the Badgers won with a provisionally-qualifying time of 3:09.53. Alabama finished second in 3:11.09 and Indiana State was third at 3:11.48. Northern Iowa was comfortably leading the race when its second runner had to step off the track with an apparent lower leg injury.

MEN’S HIGH JUMP: Derek Watkins of the University of Toronto Track Club claimed top honors clearing 2.18 meters. Purdue’s Adetayo Adesanya was the top collegiate jumper as he cleared 2.10 meters. Notre Dame’s Justin Schneider finished seventh after clearing 1.94 meters.

MEN’S TRIPLE JUMP: Alonzo Moore of HPC Elite was the only competitor to jump past 16 meters as he won the triple jump at 16.05 meters. Mississippi’s Wale Odetunde and Indiana’s Kyle Jenkins both notched provisional marks as Odetunde jumped 15.50 meters to edge Jenkins’ 15.49 meters. Eric Quick of Notre Dame finished seventh at 14.56 meters.

MEN’S SHOT PUT: Auburn’s Eric Werskey won the shot put with a mark of 18.26 meters. Southern Illinois’ Brenton Siemons tossed 17.64 to finish second while Patrick Whalen of Ohio State was third at 17.07 meters.

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