Jan. 29, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – Sophomore Kurt Benninger stole the show at the Loftus Sports Center on Saturday afternoon as he won the 3,000 meters with the second fastest time in the NCAA this season, crossing the line in 7:59.39. Benninger, alone through most of the race, ran 68-second quarter-mile splits from start to finish, and became only the fourth Irish athlete to break the eight-minute mark in the 3,000. Next Saturday, Benninger is scheduled to run in the Meyo Mile in Loftus where he will attempt to become the third Notre Dame runner to ever run a mile in less than four minutes.
On the women’s side, senior Tiffany Gunn swept the long sprints, claiming victory in the 400-meter dash and the 500-meter dash, with a pair of personal best times (55.07, and 1:12.45 respectively).
Overall, the women’s team won ten events and the men’s team won seven in a meet that did not feature team scoring.
Junior Petra Dankova was also a double winner for Notre Dame, sweeping the horizontal jumps. Her leap of 5.41m (17′ 9″) in the long jump, as well as her mark of 11.93m (39′ 1.75″) in the triple jump, was good for first place.
Junior All-American Stacey Cowan continued her outstanding season in the high jump. Her 1.80m (5′ 10.75″) effort was the winning jump on the day, and also improved her standing nationally. Cowan now holds the fourth best mark in the NCAA in the high jump this season.
Freshman Sunni Olding won the mile with a personal best time of 4:51.98, while her classmates Brienne Davis (25.21) and Domenique Manning (8.78) won the 200-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles respectively.
Selim Nurudeen continued his senior season, just missing his third straight meet with multiple victories. Nurudeen claimed his usual first place in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.86 seconds. He also came up 0.01 seconds short in a bid for the 60-meter dash title (6.85).
Freshman Adam Currie ran in the 800 meters for the first time in his career, winning the event in 1:50.29, threatening the provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships of 1:49.50. Senior Chris Staron tied his season best mark in the high jump and won the event with a jump of 2.01m (6′ 7.25″). Other winners for the Irish men were Trevor McClain-Duer in the 400-meter dash (48.19), Vinny Ambrico in the one mile (4:11.98), and Chip Roberts in the weight throw (16.16m, 53′ 0.25″).
The Irish will compete next weekend as they host the Meyo Invitational, one of the premier indoor track meets in the NCAA each year. The meet starts on Friday, February 4th at 7:00 p.m. and continues the next day at 10:00, with the finals of most track events occurring between 2:00 and 4:30 on Saturday afternoon.