April 5, 2018
By Matt Paras
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame track and field team is back together this weekend after splitting off to Stanford and Raleigh last weekend. The Irish are heading west to compete in the 39th annual Sun Angel Track Classic in Tempe, Arizona. The two-day meet kicks off Friday afternoon and will conclude Saturday evening.
WHAT: Sun Angel Track Classic (Tempe, Ariz.)
WHEN: April 6-7, 2018
WHERE: Sun Angel Track (Arizona State)
LIVE STATS: Sun Angel Live Results
The Irish picked up two wins in the infield last weekend at Stanford. Antonio Villegas Jimenez won the collegiate long jump (6.97m, 22-10.50) and Nathan Richartz (5.55m, 18-02.50) won his second pole vault event of the season.
Villegas Jimenez will be competing in the long jump Saturday afternoon in Tempe and looks to continue his good start to the outdoor season. He set a PR at the Hurricane Invitational (7.10m, 23-03.50) on top of his win at Palo Alto last weekend.
Richartz has won both pole vault events he has competed in this season and set a school record at the Hurricane Invitational (5.60m, 18-04.00). He owns the top two vaults in the ACC and his school record vault ranks fourth nationally. Richartz is scheduled to compete in the pole vault premiere Saturday night.
Summer Thorpe has had a strong start to the outdoor season in the 100m hurdles. Last weekend in Stanford, she finished third in the final with a PR of 13.41. It was her second top-five finish of the season and her time ranks third in the ACC and fifth in school history. Thorpe also will be running in the 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m relay on Saturday.
Jordan Shead will join Thorpe in both relays and the 200m dash. Shead will also run in the 400m premiere, holding one of the tops times in the conference as she enters the meet. Her PR of 53.41 at the Hurricane Invitational is second in the ACC.
Indi Jackson is another Irish athlete that holds a top conference mark this season. Jackson won the shot put at the Hurricane Invitational (15.55m, 51-0.25), and her mark currently ranks third in the ACC. She finished fourth at Stanford in the shot put and will be competing in the shot put premiere this weekend.
Friday’s events will start at 3 p.m. ET with the women’s hammer throw premiere. Notre Dame’s first event on Friday will be the women’s open hammer throw at 4 p.m. ET where Abbey Kapitan and Rachel Tanczos will throw. On Saturday, Tanczos will get the Irish going in the women’s discus at 1 pm ET.
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Matt Paras, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since January 2018. In his role, he coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse and cross country/track & field programs. A native of Warwick, Rhode Island, Paras is a graduate of the University of Louisville where he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sport Administration. Prior to arriving at Notre Dame, he worked at Vanderbilt University as the sports information contact for the women’s soccer and lacrosse programs.