RALEIGH, N.C. – On a day where champions were crowned it was a performance in a prelim that absolutely stole the show at the opening day of the ACC Championships on the campus of NC State.
Yared Nuguse turned in a performance for the ages on Thursday evening, setting the NCAA record and hitting the Olympic A standard in the 1,500m prelims with a time of 1:34.68. His time is also the fastest recorded by any American in the event this season and would have been the second fastest time at the 2016 US Olympic qualifiers.
The time also set the ACC record, meet record, track record and Notre Dame program record. What made the performance even more impressive was he basically accomplished all the feats on a solo run as he was on his for almost the entire race.
The men’s 1,500m final is scheduled for Saturday at 5:20 p.m. ET and will air live on ACCNX.
The Irish also claimed a title on Thursday, as Colton Crum won the pole vault championship. The junior cleared a height of 5.16m to take gold. Freshman teammate Nolan Blachowski set a PR with a mark of 4.96m to tie for third and earn First Team All-ACC status.
Notre Dame had another strong showing in the javelin to kick off the meet. Austin Parsons broke the program record with a throw of 70.23m to take silver while John Keenan earned bronze with a distance of 65.96m. Both were named First Team All-ACC.
Another school record fell in the women’s 1,500m prelims, as Katie Wasserman put on a show by qualifying first for Saturday’s final with a time of 4:11.72, which set the Notre Dame and track records.
The Irish also picked up a pair of All-ACC honors in the hammer throw. On the women’s side Rachel Tanczos grabbed first team status by recording a PR of 64.33m to place third. Logan Kusky earned second team honors on the men’s side by placing fourth with a throw of 64.78m.
In the 10,000m race, final event of the night, Notre Dame picked up two more Second Team All-ACC citations, as Kevin Salvano finished fourth in 29:12.28 and Jake Renfree crossed the line sixth in 29:12.28.
The first day of the women’s heptathlon was also on Thursday and Notre Dame has two athletes in the top five through four of the seven events. Jadin O’Brien is in third place with a score of 2,531 and Alaina Brady is fifth with 2,411 points.
Day two of the ACC Championships are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET for the Irish with the javelin. You can stream the live broadcast on ACCNX.