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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Men, women finish in top three

The Irish made a strong case that they belong in the ACC after a powerful showing at Notre Dame’s first outdoor ACC championships. The men placed third overall, while the women took home second place. Florida State claimed first in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

The Notre Dame women had an impressive weekend, led by junior Jade Barber, who claimed two ACC victories. Barber took home the gold in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.98, making her the first outdoor ACC champion for the Irish. Her time is the fifth best in the country for that event. 

Freshman Madlen Karnatz runs in the 200 meter dash at the Notre Dame Invitational on Jan. 25.
Freshman Madlen Karnatz runs in the 200 meter dash at the Notre Dame Invitational on Jan. 25.

Along with Barber, senior Michelle Brown, junior Amber Lalla, and sophomore Margaret Bamgbose won the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:33.70.

On the men’s side, graduate student Nick Happe won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:01.15, beating his indoor ACC championship-winning time of 14:03.92. Happe also finished third in the finals of the 1,500-meter with a time of 3:50.83 after taking first in the preliminary race. 

Senior Pat Feeney picked up three top-five finishes, placing fourth in the 400-meter, second in the 4x100-meter relay and fourth in the 4x400-meter relay. 

Junior Chris Giesting matched that total with a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter, while competing on the same 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams as Feeney.

Freshman sprinter Harvey Smith said Feeney and Giesting helped the team by running multiple races.

“Pat and Chris ran extremely well for running in multiple events,” Smith said. “They totaled a lot of points for us, so that was big.”

Overall, Smith said he was pleased with the performance of his team, despite some adversity.

“The team ran pretty well, and on the distance side, we had a few injuries, so we had to make up some points there,” Smith said.

After an important meet like the ACC Championships, Smith said  the road to recovery is not as fast as after a normal competition.

“Everyone is still kind of tired; [we’re] getting our legs back from the ACC,” Smith said.  “It takes a lot to fully get back to the way we were before. Bu, we are going to go to the Drake Relays this weekend and lower our times in the relays.”

With the NCAA Championships still over a month awae, the Irish will shift gears from the national stage to the Drake Relays, which begin Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa.