Feb. 17, 2018
By Caitlyn Clinton and Emily Doyle
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame track and field team finished off the indoor season with the Alex Wilson Invitational Saturday at the Loftus Sports Center. There were eight individual wins, 26 personal bests, and the meet was highlighted by the men’s distance medley relay team breaking the school record.
Jacob Dumford (2:53.97, 1200m), Edward Cheatham (47.65-400m), Elijah Silva (1:49.2-800m), and Yared Nuguse posted a time of 9:28.79 in the men’s distance medley relay, including a sub four-minute mile split (3:57.39) from Nuguse. That time broke the previous record that Dumford was a part of at the Alex Wilson Invitational in 2014. After seeing the results, the group of boys celebrated with excitement when they realized they had broken the school record. Their time currently ranks sixth in the country as of Saturday night and the top-eight times were set at this meet.
The women’s team, Kelly Hart, Payton Miller, Samantha Murray, and Jessica Harris, raced in an extremely competitive event. Placing eighth overall, the Irish team of four ran a time of 11:03.38, which currently ranks 11th in the nation as of Saturday night. Eight of the top-10 times in the country were set at this meet in the women’s distance medley relay.
Irish Wins
On the sprint side of events, Michaela Butler won the women’s 60m dash. She posted a personal-best time of 7.67 in the finals, beating her prelim time of 7.74. Troy Pride Jr. raced ahead to win the race with a time of 6.88 in the men’s 60-meter dash.
Madysen Hunter came away with two event wins and two personal bests. Her first came in the 60m hurdles with a winning time of 8.60. Then she followed it up with a 24.67 in the 200m dash.
Field event winners include pole vaulter Kassadee Ifft with a 3.76m (12-04.00), weight thrower Rachel Tanczos with a 17.54m (57-06.50), and Matthew Birzer winning the high jump for his fifth-straight meet at a height of 2.12m (6-11.50).
PR’s set at the Alex Wilson Invitational
A number of athletes finished the regular season off in style by posting season and personal best marks in their events.
Christopher Meng started the meet off with a personal best in the men’s 60m dash, finishing with a time of 7.17.
Nathaniel Ekwuene jumped to a new personal-best mark of 13.33m (43-09.00) for the triple jump. Rachel Tanczos set a personal record with a toss of 14.10m (46-03.25) in the women’s shot put along with her teammate Rachel Rhodes, who threw a 10.81m (35-05-75). Shae Watkins threw a personal best today with a toss of 16.41m (51-04.50) in the men’s weight throw.
Two athletes set personal bests in the women’s mile. Stephanie Knight clocked in at 5:00.21 with her teammate Madison Ronzone crossing the finish line with a time of 5:09.76.
The men’s mile saw five season bests. Brian Griffith set a new personal best with 4:10.67 while Parker Jones shaved twelve seconds off his PR by running a 4:12.93 today. Brent Kennedy came in just after him with a 4:13.26. Connor Sheryak ran a 4:17.32 and Vincent Zona crossed the finish line with a time of 4:20.76.
Both the men’s and women’s 800m run resulted in personal bests times. Erin Sullivan raced a 2:13.33 and came in fifth place in the women’s event. For the men, Clayton Goldman came in at 1:51.77 and Matt Frazier at 1:53.67. Additionally, Kirk Hansen raced to a PR of 51.22 in the men’s 400m dash.
In the women’s 3000m, the Irish recorded five PR’s. Annasophia Keller ran 9:51.22, Kaitlin Frei with 10:00.40, Mary Clare Leonard at 10:21.84, Kelly Koehnen clocking a 10:19.54 and Brooke Trossen finishing in with 10:30.75. The men’s 3000m saw similar success. Peter Monahan took first with a time of 8:22.74, a new PR. Kevin Salvano ran an 8:30.90, finishing fifth, and Sean Kurdy finished eighth with a time of 8:35.30.
Up Next
Notre Dame will travel to Clemson, South Carolina for the ACC Indoor Championships. The championships begin on Thursday, February 22nd and end Saturday, February 24th.
For more on the Irish track and field programs, follow @NDXCTF on Twitter and Instagram.