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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Competition begins at ACCs

While most of Notre Dame’s events at the ACC Indoor Championships in Clemson, S.C., take place Friday and Saturday, a Thursday schedule with four opening events ended in success for the Irish.

Early in the evening, graduate student Ted Glasnow led the Irish men in the heptathlon, who claimed the victory in the shot put portion of the event with a mark of 14.21 meters. Glasnow also finished fifth in the men’s long jump (6.66 meters), men’s high jump (1.93 meters) and men’s 60-meter race (7.22). Glasnow stood in third place overall after the first four events of the heptathlon with 3,021 points.

Junior Carly Loeffel and senior Meghan Moore competed for the women in the pentathlon, with Loeffel grabbing two top-five finishes. Loeffel was one-hundredth of a meter away from taking home the same honors as Glasnow, placing second in the shot put with a mark of 12.30 meters. In another close finish, Loeffel finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.92 seconds.

Moore finished in the top 13 in all five events to claim 11th place overall.

Junior sprinter Josh Atkinson races at the Notre Dame Invitational on Jan. 25 at the Loftus Sports Center.
Junior sprinter Josh Atkinson races at the Notre Dame Invitational on Jan. 25 at the Loftus Sports Center.
The day ended with the men’s and women’s distance medley relays. The men took first with a time of 9:49.99, while the women came in second with a time of 11:16.59. The two finishes marked the end of the first day of competition for the Irish, who stand in first place on the men’s side and fourth on the women’s.

Even though freshman sprinter Harvey Smith did not compete Thursday, he said he still took note of the team’s strong start.

“We took first in the distance medley relay; that will give us 10 points, so that is nice for tomorrow,” Smith said. “Our main competition is probably Florida State, and they did not run it, so we have the advantage there.”

Friday comes with an exciting schedule of eight finals, including the conclusion of the heptathlon. Action in Clemson begins at 11:00 a.m. with the 60-meter-hurdles portion of the heptathlon and ends with the men’s 5,000-meter race. Saturday will bring another 22 finals, including the mile run, a strong point for the Irish coming into this weekend.

Smith said the team is ready for the weekend and enjoying the time together on the conference stage.  Moreover, Smith said he expects the Irish men to turn in strong performances in the mile run, the men’s 400-meter dash and the men’s 4x400-meter relay.

“We had a team meeting, and we are just ready to go and run,” Smith said. “Everyone is feeling good. Everyone has fresh legs. The team is starting to bond, which happens when you go on long trips.”

The Irish will look to continue Thursday’s success throughout the weekend. The ACC Indoor Track Championships are available to stream on ESPN3.