On March 8 and 9, 10 of Notre Dame's best athletes competed in the NCAA Indoor championships in Fayetteville, Ark., against the nation's best, and did not disappoint, despite the competition.
In the men's 400-meter, the chase for the school record continued between sophomore Chris Giesting and junior Patrick Feeney, as the record was broken for the fourth time this year when Feeney ran a 45.92 in a preliminary, good for third in the heat and fourth overall. The time broke the record of 46.05 Giesting set one week earlier.
"Pat and I push each other every day in practice and we definitely try to beat each other when it comes to race day," Giesting said. "I broke his school record at the Alex Wilson Invite and then a week later at NCAA's, he re-broke the record I just took from him. We constantly battle back and forth and try to help each other perform to the best of our ability."
Following his great showing, Feeney was celebrated as the Big East Men's Track Athlete of the Week, while both runners managed to earn first team All-American honors.
On the women's side, Notre Dame athletes placed in the top eight in the mile, the 60-meter hurdles and the distance medley relay.
After posting the nation's sixth-best mile time at the Alex Wilson Invitational, senior Rebecca Tracy ran a 4:39.38 mile to finish eighth overall and earn first team All-American honors.
Not to be outdone, sophomore Jade Barber came in seventh with a time of 8.20 in the 60-meter hurdles. She, too, earned first team All-American honors.
The distance medley relay team of juniors Kelly Curran, Michelle Brown and Alexa Aragon and freshman Danielle Aragon also finished seventh with their time of 11:01.49. Following the trend, the distance medley relay runners were recognized as first team All-Americans.
In addition to first team All-American honors in the 60-meter hurdles and distance medley relay, respectively, Barber and Brown also participated on a second team All-American 4x400-meter relay team with junior Megan Yanik and freshman Margaret Bamgbose. The team finished in 3:35.85 to place 11th.
"It was a great weekend for the Irish as eight of the 10 people we brought to NCAA's became first team All-Americans," Giesting said. "[But] we had no NCAA champions this year, so that should be the goal for everybody returning next year because it is within everyone's realm of possibility."
The Irish start their outdoor season Friday and Saturday in Houston with the Victor Lopez Invitational.
Contact Cole Schietinger at cschieti@nd.edu
