This past weekend, Notre Dame sent athletes to the SPIRE DI Invitational in Geneva, Ohio, and to the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa, with the goal of fine-tuning results before the ACC indoor championships in two weeks.
“The goals were to just try to improve on the athletes' individual marks,” Irish coach Alan Turner said. “This was the last weekend for a lot of our kids to get in a few races just to better their marks coming in.”
Junior Molly Seidel sprints toward the finish during the National
Catholic Championships on Sept. 19 at Burke Golf Course.
Catholic Championships on Sept. 19 at Burke Golf Course.
During a weekend that was about individual performances, one of the highlights for the Irish was junior Molly Seidel's school record-breaking performance in the 5,000-meter run. Turner said he was impressed with Seidel’s time of 15:54.45.
“The big result was Molly Seidel at the Iowa State Classic setting a new Notre Dame record in the 5,000-meter,” Turner said. “That time, I believe, puts her at 12th in the country, and she won that race pretty easily. She’s in great shape. We feel she’s gonna do very well for us in the ACC meet in a couple of weeks, and she should do very well in the NCAA meet two weeks after the conference championship.”
Junior Michael Clevenger also set a personal best competing in the 5,000-meter run on the men’s side. Clevenger recorded a time of 13:59.91 seconds, which cut 23 seconds off of his previous personal record. Turner said he is happy with Clevenger’s performance but believes he can do even better.
“[Clevenger] had a personal best,” Turner said. “That puts him at 32nd or 33rd on the national list and moves him up pretty high in the ACC. He was looking for a little better finish than that, but he’s another one that's just rounding into shape. Molly [Seidel] and Michael [Clevenger] had great cross-country seasons, and you see that carrying on now during the indoor season.”
Turner said he expected better results at the SPIRE DI Invitational.
“At the SPIRE Invitational, the results were a little bit mixed,” Turner said. “I was looking for [senior] Jade Barber in the 60-meter hurdles to have her best time of the year. She had some solid races; she finished third, but I was expecting her to run a little bit faster, in the 8.2 range.”
Barber ran the 60-meter hurdles in 8.42 seconds.
Additionally, Turner said he expected more from freshman Parker English.
“My freshman 400-meter runner, Parker English, I was expecting her to have a much better 400-meter race,” Turner said. “She was only [at 55.69 seconds] and I was expecting her to be at least full second faster than that. So the results were a little bit mixed.”
Turner did praise sophomore pole vaulter Nathan Richartz, who won his event at the SPIRE DI Invitational.
“Nate Richartz, he had a [personal best] in the pole vault,” Turner said. “He had 16 feet there, so he’s had some hamstring injuries. His hamstring is feeling much, much better, and he vaulted well. He’s going to have to get mid-16-foot jumps at the ACC to get some big points for us. He’s coming around.”
Next week, the Irish will host the Alex Wilson Invitational at Loftus Sports Center. It will be the last regular-season indoor meet before the ACC championships, and Turner said he plans to rest some of his athletes.
“The majority of our athletes who are going to be at the ACC, we’re going to rest them at the Alex Wilson [Invitational],” Turner said. “Our athletes that are very, very good that need a much better mark to qualify for the NCAA championships, we’re probably going to put them in their main event and have them run one time. The goal at the Alex Wilson is not to load our athletes up and have them run in three or four races with the ACC the following weekend.”
