May 25, 2018
By Matt Paras
TAMPA, Fla. – The Notre Dame track and field team was back in action Friday for the second day of the east preliminary round. The Irish locked up another quarterfinal appearance when Summer Thorpe advanced as a time qualifier in the 100m hurdles to highlight the second day of competition.
Heading into the 100m hurdles, Thorpe’s personal record time of 13.40 ranked 36th in the field so a fast time was needed to qualify for the quarterfinal. Thorpe did just that in the fifth of six heats Friday afternoon. She was out in lane eight but stayed with the front pack of runners and crossed the line at 13.17. After the final heat, she ended up with the 12th-best time out of the entire first round.
Junior Kelly Hart was back on the track in hopes of securing her first career trip to Eugene for nationals. She ran in the final heat of the 800m once again and used a strong final lap to push herself into contention. Hart had a big kick down the final straightaway and crossed the finish line with a personal record time of 2:05.45 but ended up 13th overall, just one position shy of qualifying for NCAA’s.
Jordan Shead was also running in a quarterfinal race on Friday when she took the track for the 400m. Shead finished with a 53.62 to close out a very successful senior season for the Irish.
Freshman Rachel Tanczos was scheduled for her second of two events this weekend with the discus throw. Her season came to a close after the first flight with her best throw of 43.95m (144-2).
Up Next
The Irish will close out the east preliminary round tomorrow with five events scheduled for the final day of competition. Yared Nuguse will kick things off in the 1500m quarterfinal at 1 p.m. Jessica Harris will be right after Nuguse in the women’s 1500m quarterfinal at 1:15 p.m. Summer Thorpe is slated to run the 100m quarterfinal at 1:50 p.m. while Matthew Birzer competes in the high jump at 2 p.m. Following a break in the events, Rachel DaDamio and Annie Heffernan will compete in the final event of the meet, the 5000m semifinal, at 8:45 p.m.
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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.