Feb. 28, 2001
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WHO:
Notre Dame women’s track and field team
WHAT:
2001 Alex Wilson Invitational
WHERE:
Notre Dame, Ind., Loftus Sports Center
WHEN:
Fri., March 2 (6 p.m.) – Sat., March 3 (10:30 a.m.)
Irish ready to compete in Alex Wilson Invitational:
The University of Notre Dame women’s track and field team will compete for the last time before the NCAA Championships when it hosts the Alex Wilson Invitational in the Loftus Sports Complex this Friday and Saturday. This will be the last opportunity for Irish athletes to qualify for the national meet, to be held March 9-10 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Junior sprinter Liz Grow (New Braunfels, Texas) is the only Notre Dame athlete that has assured herself of competing at the NCAA Championships. Grow’s time of 53.30 in the 400 meters at the Meyo Invitational will qualify her for the national meet. It currently stands as the second-best time among collegians in the nation this season. Grow finished second in the 400 meters at the BIG EAST Championships last month and will be a favorite this weekend.
Grow has also posted a provisional qualifying time for the NCAAs in the 200 meters when she ran the race in 24.24 vs. Michigan State in January. Grow won the second BIG EAST title of her career when she captured the 200 meters last month. Grow also holds a team-best time of 7.56 in the 60 meters.
Sophomore outdoor long jump All-American Tameisha King (Mableton, Ga.) might also earn a spot in the 2001 NCAA Indoor Championship. With a season-best leap of 20-0 1/4 at the Windsor Team Challenge she has posted a NCAA consideration mark. King is also the top 60-meter hurdle specialist on the roster, running a season-best 8.49 at the BIG EAST meet. The NCAA provisional qualification time in the 60-meter hurdles is 8.43.
Jaime Volkmer (Kearney, Neb.) has been steadily improved her clearances in the pole vault this season. She has set the school record three times this season, the most recent was a 3.70m (12-1 1/2) effort at the BIG EAST Championship. The NCAA provisional qualifying height is 12-5 1/2, a height at which the Irish sophomore has made many solid attempts at this season. She will be pursuing a qualification height at the Alex Wilson Invitational this weekend.
History of the Alex Wilson Invitational:
This will be the 12th running of the Alex Wilson Invitational at the Loftus Sports Complex. A traditional late-season meet, it provides some of the top athletes in the country a final chance to qualify for the NCAA Championship meet (March 9-10, Fayetteville, Ark.). One of the best tracks in the nation, the Meyo Indoor Track in the Loftus Sports Center is the nations largest indoor track on the collegiate level. A number of coaches across the country inquire about running on the Meyo Track and the meets have improved every year.
A middle-distance track star at Notre Dame, Alex Wilson is a perfect example of an outstanding athlete and legendary coach.
While at Notre Dame, Wilson was undefeated in the quarter and half-mile events and set a national indoor record of 49.3 for the 440 in 1932. He set records in both the 440 and 880 races. Wilson also won the Amateur Athletic Union 600 and twice captured the Milrose 600. In 1928 and 1932, he competed in the Olympics for his native Canada and won a silver in the 800-meter race and a bronze in the 400-meter run in 1932.
In 1950, after 18 years as a successful track and swimming coach at Loyola (Ill.) he returned to coach at Notre Dame. During his 23 years with the Irish, his teams finished in the national top-10 11 times. Wilson guided three track national champions, 28 track and eight cross country All-Americans and led the Irish to the cross country national championship in 1957. His teams appeared in the meet a total of 18 times.
He was voted into the Canadian Track Hall of Fame in 1954 and in 1967 he was elected to the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame for his contributions as a track coach in the United States.
Wilson was also honored as national coach of the year by the NCAA Cross Country Coaches Association in 1972 and the Alex Wilson Invitational is held each year in his honor .
Wilson died on Dec. 10, 1994, at the age of 87.