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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Irish host second meet

The Notre Dame indoor track and field team will begin its second meet of 2004 tonight at 7 p.m. in the Loftus Center. The men and women will each take on Ball State and Western Michigan.The Irish qualified 17 athletes for the Big East Championships last week at Central Michigan and hope to add to that number this weekend.One strong point of both the men's and women's teams will be in the distance events. Few runners ran last week, and most of them should be ready to go tonight. Irish coach Joe Piane is excited about his team's potential going into the meet. "We should do very well as a team," he said. "On the men's side, I look for us to be especially strong in the 35-pound weight throw, long jump, triple jump and the 800 meters."The Irish are led by senior Juan Alba and junior Chip Roberts in the weight throw, Godwin Mbagwu in both the long and triple jump, and senior Colin Quinn in the 800 meters. Piane also expects strong performances from juniors Ryan Mineburg and Chris Staron in the high jump, as well as Selim Nurudeen in the 60m high hurdles.Nurudeen is the two-time defending conference champion in the 110m hurdles.On the women's side, Piane expects to be successful, especially in the 800 meters on up.Returning All-American Lauren King will represent the Irish in the mile run.The junior took seventh place nationally last year and should again be tough to beat this season.Other athletes to watch will be senior captain Tiffany Gunn, sophomore Stacey Cowan and freshmen Maryann Erigha and Cassie Gullickson.