Nevada Sorenson admits she is forgetful.
"In the past, I've had this tendency of forgetting my shoes, my spikes, even my uniform," the junior sprinter said. "I've lost my keys at a meet before. It's something I worry about."
Sorenson had nothing to worry about at the Big East meet two weeks ago, when she ran a personal-best time of 8.36 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to take first place.
"It was really great to run my best race and get the gold," she said. "I didn't expect to win going in. I think I was ranked third. Some of the other girls I was running against didn't do their best, so it was a little bit of luck and a little bit of me running my best race, but luckily it all pulled together."
Sorenson's victory helped the Irish place fourth overall at the meet. She finished sixth in the same race this past weekend when
Notre Dame hosted the Alex Wilson Invitational. Unfortunately, her efforts were not enough to qualify her for the NCAA national meet.
"You have to place in the top 16 in the nation during the regular season [to qualify for nationals]," Sorenson said. "Since I'm not going to nationals, it's all about training for [the outdoor season]. I'll be getting back into some harder workouts."
The season's transition to the outdoor season means Sorenson must make some transitions of her own.
"For me, it means running 100-meter hurdles instead of 60-meter. Relays are also introduced that we don't have [during the indoor season]," she said. "It also brings on a lot of traveling. Since we have a big indoor track, we host a lot of indoor meets. For [the outdoor season], we travel a ton. We'll be going to Florida, Texas, Alabama and California."
As the Irish begin to look forward to the outdoor season, Sorenson has set some big goals for herself and her team.
"I still have my eyes set on winning Big East for the women's team," she said. "We went from eighth place during indoor last year to fourth this year. We did have a lot of great performances, but we also had a lot of hiccups and I know our women's squad can do a lot better. I know we can improve a lot more, even further than we've come."
Personally, she wants to keep pushing her own boundaries.
"I just want to keep [getting personal records]," Sorenson said. "I'm trying to get my hurdle times for the outdoor season lower and hopefully make it to nationals."
Sorenson and the rest of the Irish travel to the Alabama Relays in Tuscaloosa, Ala., after Spring Break. In the meantime, several members of the men's and women's squads will be participating in the NCAA indoor championships in Nampa, Idaho this weekend.
Contact Laura Coletti at lcoletti@nd.edu