May 5, 2001
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The University of Notre Dame’s women’s track and field squad had a strong showig on the first day of competition at the 2001 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships with two competitors earning all-Big East honors and another qualifying automatically for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Irish are in fifth place with 25 points after the first day of competition. Rutgers leads the two-day event with 39 team points.
Sophomore Jamie Volkmer (Kearney, Neb.) earned all-BIG EAST recognition for the frouth time in her career by taking second in the pole vault, clearing 11 feet, 11.75 inches. Volkmer also added points for the Irish in the triple jump, where she placed eighth with a jump of 39 feet, 8 inches. Joining Volkmer in earning an all-BIG EAST recognition is junior Dore Debartolo, (Aurora, Ill) who also scored in two events in today’s competition. Debartolo hit a distance of 148 feet, 11 inches in the discus, good enough for a third place finish, and threw 45 feet, 6.5 inches in the shot put to add a fifth place finish. Debartolo’s discus mark is her best of the season, an improvement over the 143 feet, 11 inches she threw at the Purdue Open.
Junior Liz Grow (New Braunfels, Tx.) had an outstanding day of competition, qualifying automatically for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in her qualifying heat of the 400-meter dash. Her time of 52.40 seconds matches the NCAA automatic standard, and she leads the field entering tomorrow’s finals. In the 200-meter dash, Grow had the third fastest time in her qualifying round with a time of 23.80 second in the qualifying round, with the finals set to run tomorrow. Grow’s times in both events are season bests, improvements over the 53.87 she ran in the at the Woodland Mortgage Relays and her 23.86 in the 200 at the Arizona State Invitational.
In the 100-meter dash, the Irish have another competitor seeded first going into tomorrow’s finals. Freshman Ayesha Boyd (Spartanburg, S.C.) ran an 11.88, her best time of the year, in her qualifying round to lead the competition. Senior Carri Lenz (London, Ontario) also earned herself a spot in tomorrow’s finals of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.39, adding another personal best for the Irish.
Sophomore Besty Lazerri, (Kennett Square, Pa.) in seventh place after the first day of heptathlon action, was able to move up to finish in sixth place. Her place improved with the points scored in the long jump, javelin throw, and 800-meter run. Lazerri ended the two-day competition with 4354 points, up from the 4204 points she tallied in last year’s BIG EAST outdoor event.
In other action, freshman Megan Johnson (Seattle, Wash.) will run in tomorrow’s 1500-meter finals after finishing tenth in today’s qualifying round with a season best 4:26.91.