The Irish will heed the gun of their regular season at 5 p.m. today with the 13-team Notre Dame Indoor Opener.
"We will use Friday night's competition to see where we are after the long break," Irish coach Tim Connelly said. "Most of our team has only been together since Monday."
Though the Indoor Opener officially starts the regular season, Notre Dame has already competed in the Blue-Gold Invitational, which took place on Dec. 7. Some top performers from that meet included Anna Weber, whose mark of 17.54 meters in the weight throw qualified her for the Big East Championship, and freshman runner Cora Dayon, who won the 500-meter run with a time of 1:14:37. Both are expected to contribute Friday.
The meet will also be an opportunity for new runners to get a chance to compete.
"Most of the people who competed in December will compete again on Friday, but we will have some additions who are now training and should be ready to run," Connelly said.
Among others, the Irish will welcome back returning cross county All-American Sunni Olding who was out part of the fall because of an injury. Additionally, Notre Dame will welcome back freshman standout Marissa Treece, who had been sidelined with illness. Both will run distance for the Irish.
Notre Dame will look to carry the success it had more than a month ago into Friday's meet.
"Although there will be several more teams here, the level of competition will be similar to the first meet," said Connelly.
The meet will start with the long jump, and the running events will start with the 60-meter dash at 6:30 pm.
