RALEIGH, N.C. – The Fighting Irish track and field program picked up six more All-ACC recognitions on Friday and set two school records on day two of the conference championships.
After two days of events the women’s and men’s sides are both in strong positions in the team standings. The women lead the field with 39 points, edging second place Virginia Tech (38). The men will enter the final day in second place (51.5 points), 10 points behind the leaders in Virginia Tech (61.5).
Notre Dame saved one of its best performances for the final women’s event of the night, the 3,000m steeplechase. Olivia Markezich shattered the Notre Dame record in the event by more than eight seconds, recording a time of 9:45.72 to garner First Team All-ACC status.
Fellow teammates AnnaSophia Keller and Lauren Sapone also had memorable nights, both setting PRs in the event. Keller took third, crossing in 9:56.88 (third best time in ND history) to become a First Team All-ACC honoree. Sapone was right behind with a fourth place finish of 9:58.64 (fourth best time in ND history) to earn a Second Team All-ACC citation.
Earlier in the day the freshmen duo of Jadin O’Brien and Alaina Brady continued their strong debut seasons in the heptathlon, completing the final three events of the competition to finish third and fourth respectively.
O’Brien set the school record in the heptathlon with a score of 5,846 points to take First Team All-ACC honors while Brady earned Second Team All-ACC accolades with a PR of 5,412 points, which places her in fourth in Notre Dame history for the event. O’Brien won two of the three events of the day, placing first in long jump (6.17) and 800m (2:11.61).
In the men’s shot put, John Stefen had an afternoon to remember, recording a PR throw of 18.68m, which places him second in program history for the event and earned First Team All-ACC honors with the third place finish.
In the men’s 800m prelims Samuel Voelz qualified first in the event with the best outdoor time of his career, crossing the finish line in 1:49.01. The final will be on Saturday at 6:50 p.m. ET.
Day three of the ACC Championships are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET for the Irish with the men’s discus. You can stream the live broadcast on ACCNX.