Returning All-American Molly Huddle set the pace for the Irish as the Notre Dame track and field teams competed alongside Michigan State, Depaul, Marquette and Butler in the Notre Dame Invitational Friday night at the Loftus Center. Huddle, a sophomore from Elmira, N.Y., broke her own school record in the 3,000-meter race with a time of 9:14.13. Huddle's time is the second-best time posted in the country this season. The race automatically qualifies her for the NCAA championships to be held March 12 in Fayetteville, Ark. Another outstanding performance on the women's side came from junior Lauren King. Her time of 4:45.61 won the mile run and puts her in second place nationally. Senior Tiffany Gunn won the 500-meter with a season-best mark of 1:13.37. Teammate freshman Okechi Ogbuokiri finished second to Gunn in a time of 1:16.61. Gunn also finished third in the 200-meter, good enough to qualify for the Big East Championships. Sophomore shot-putter Meghan Horn qualified for the Big East meet with a distance of 12.72 meters. She also finished second in the weight throw with a 13.41-meter mark. Ayesha Boyd was a winner in the 400 meters, as the senior posted a clip of 55.79. She also came away with a win in the 60-meter dash in 7.69 seconds.Other winners for the Irish women were senior Kristen Dodd with a time of 24.42 in the 200-meter race and freshman Cassie Gullickson, who won the triple jump with a leap of 11.79 meters.For the Notre Dame men, Selim Nurudeen continued his outstanding season, qualifying for the Big East Championships in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.93 seconds. The junior has now qualified for the conference meet in three events, the other two being the 200-meter dash and the 60-meter hurdles. Junior Dwight Ellick, who spends the fall playing on the Notre Dame football team, finished a close second to Nurudeen in the 60-meter dash with a Big East qualifying time of 6.94 seconds.In the 400-meter race, junior Trevor McClain-Duer came out on top, running a time of 48.00 seconds.The 3,000 meter produced two Big East qualifying times for the Irish as sophomore Kaleb Van Ort and senior Todd Mobley finished second and third, respectively. In the middle distances, freshman Jordan Powell qualified for the conference meet in the 500-meter with a winning time of 1:04.49. Senior teammate Kevin Somok won the 800-meter in 1:53.63. Senior Juan Alba won the weight throw with a heave of 17.75 meters. He also qualified for the conference meet in the shot put with a toss of 15.60 meters.Justin Oppel won the pole vault with a height of 4.65 meters while fellow freshman Christopher Jacques placed first in the long jump with a leap of 6.59 meters.
Contact Mike Gilloon at mgilloon@nd.edu
