April 29, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Irish men’s track and field team will try to sweep the conference crowns and repeat as last year’s outdoor champion this weekend as they and the Irish women compete at the 2010 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships.
Notre Dame will send 65 student-athletes to the league championships held at Gettler Stadium on the campus of the University of Cincinnati.
Action gets underway Friday at 11:00 a.m. (ET) with the decathlon and heptathlon. Saturday’s events begin at 9:00 a.m. with more decathlon and heptathlon events, as well as the women’s javelin. Track events begin with the women’s 1500 meters at 1:30 p.m. On Sunday, the men’s hammer throw kicks things off at 10:00 a.m., while the women’s 4×400-meter relay begins the track events at 11:00 a.m.
The Irish head to the BIG EAST Championships after several weeks of successful competition. Notre Dame holds a number of the top BIG EAST marks, as well as many of the nation’s best performances.
Joanna Schultz ranks seventh nationally with a 400-meter time of 52.88 and is 15th in the country with a 400-meter hurdle mark of 58.13. Rebecca Tracy’s 1500-meter time of 4:20.18 ranks 20th, while Jaclyn Espinoza is 30th with a discus throw of 50.93m (167-10).
On the men’s side, Daniel Clark is 15th nationally with a 1500-meter time of 3:43.23, Jack Howard ranks 29th in the men’s 800 meters at 1:49.25 and Kevin Schipper is 30th with a pole vault height of 5.20m (17-00 3/4).
In the BIG EAST, Schultz holds the top 400-meter hurdle mark and is second in the 400-meter dash. Espinoza ranks third in the women’s discus throw, and Nevada Sorenson is third in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. The Irish also hold top-five marks in the women’s 1500 meters, 10,000 meters, 4×400-meter relay, long jump, shot put and heptathlon.
Howard is second on the league’s 800-meter performance list, while Blake Choplin ranks fifth in the event. Clark’s 1500-meter time is second best in the conference, Schipper ranks second in the men’s pole vault and Mitchell Gormley is second in the men’s hammer throw. Notre Dame’s student-athletes can also be found in the top-five in the men’s 10,000 meters, 4×800-meter relay, long jump and decathlon.
The BIG EAST Conference will once again offer Web site coverage and streaming of the 2010 Outdoor Track and Field Championships. BIGEAST.tv – the league’s online streaming platform – will offer live coverage from the championship. Fans can subscribe to BIGEAST.tv for one low price to catch all of the action from the comfort of their home computer.
For all of the BIG EAST’s coverage of the Outdoor Track and Field Championships, visit the 2010 Championship Central page at BIGEAST.org. Championship Central will contain a live scoreboard feed and results, photo galleries, recaps and will house all video archives.
Daily recaps will also be available at UND.com following the completion of each day’s events.
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