The Irish scattered around the country this weekend to compete in three invitationals in two states, and athletes are already sending home news of impressive results in California.
Senior decathlete Ted Glasnow and sophomore heptathlete Carly Loeffel wrapped up their multi-events last night at the California Invite at Azusa Pacific University. Loeffel set a personal record in the heptathlon at 5287 points, finishing in fifth place in her section, just one point out of fourth and fewer than 30 points out of the top three. She also shattered her personal bests in the 200-meter and the javelin.
Glasnow set a huge personal record of 7315, breaking his previous best by 450 points and showing significant improvement over his previous scores this year. He broke personal records in the 100-meter, 400-meter and 100-meter hurdles before cruising home to take the victory in the 1500-meter. The rest of the field never came close, as Glasnow's Day One-lead of 100 points ballooned to more than 500 by the end of the competition.
"For [Carly and Ted], this was a good opportunity to get a multi-event in in good weather," junior Logan Renwick said. "Their bodies take a lot of pounding in their event, so it's best for them for the conditions to be good."
Not far away in Walnut, Calif., seniors J.P. Malette and Jeremy Rae are preparing to race the 1500-meter at the prestigious Mt. SAC relays Friday. Mt. SAC is one of the largest meets in the country, with more than 9000 athletes competing. Rae will be racing the distance for the first time this season in the elite section of the event.
"Jeremy and J.P. are two of our most talented distance runners, so this meet was a chance for them to face the very best competition in the country and put up some big times," Renwick said.
Closer to home, most of the team will compete at the Polytan Invitational at Indiana University on Saturday. While the weather might not be as good as in California, Renwick feels Indiana will still provide opportunities for the rest of the team.
"It's not a lot of travel, which is nice," Renwick said. "They have very good facilities too. We really want more people to put down big marks and qualify for the Big East [championship], and I think a lot of people will."
With the Big East championship just two weeks away, the team is starting to taper its training for the postseason. Still, Renwick says the whole squad remains focused on this weekend.
"We take every meet very seriously," he said. "We'll worry about the conference championship after this weekend."
The Irish will compete today at the Mt. SAC relays in Walnut, Calif., and at the Polytan Invitational at Indiana for the entire day Saturday.
Contact Greg Hadley at ghadley@nd.edu
