Notre Dame takes over Texas this weekend as 18 Irish athletes compete at the Texas Relays in Austin and 27 others travel to the Victor Lopez Invitational in Houston.
The split-squad Texas trip marks the first action of the outdoor season for the Irish, who saw 12 athletes named All-Americans for their performances at the NCAA indoor championships, which finished March 15. The Irish men’s unit finished 17th overall while the women’s squad finished 29th.
The Texas Relays began Wednesday with all eyes on graduate student Ted Glasnow, who competed in the decathlon, an event in which he earned all-Big East honors in 2013.
Irish coach Joe Piane said Wednesday that his chief goals for Glasnow were a top-10 finish and NCAA championship qualifying mark. On Thursday afternoon, Glasnow put the finishing touches on a better-than-expected performance. Glasnow’s 7299 points were good enough for 7th place and placed him 343 points off the winner, sophomore Johannes Hock of Texas. The mark was also just short of his personal record of 7315, set last season at the Mt. SAC Relays.
“So far, [Glasnow] has definitely been adequate,” Piane said Thursday afternoon. “He’s in seventh at the moment. We need top-10 at the very least to qualify him nationally, but where he’s sitting right now I think we are definitely hoping for a little better.”
After the decathlon Thursday, Friday and Saturday will feature particularly strong competition in the sprint events for the Irish, as junior Chris Giesting, seniors Patrick Feeney and Jarrod Buchanon and freshman Harvey Smith, all of whom earned All-American honors at the indoor championships, will compete. On the women’s side, senior Megan Yanik and All-American junior Jade Barber will run in the prelims for the 400-meter hurdles.
Piane said Tuesday that the Irish were looking forward to compete outdoors after training exclusively indoors for the past few months.
“It will be wonderful to run in the sun,” Piane said.
Action at the Victor Lopez Invitational begins Friday and final events for the Texas Relays begin Friday as the Irish look to keep up the momentum from the indoor season.
