Notre Dame participated in a dual meet against Wisconsin this past Saturday to get back into the swing of competition after winter break, and although the meet resulted in losses for both the men’s and women’s teams, Irish head coach Alan Turner said winning was not the primary objective of the day.
“Of course we would like to win, but if I was trying to win the meet, I would have entered my whole entire team, and that’s not what I did,” Turner said. “None of our distance people were there, and the people that we did bring were not necessarily our top entrants. I just wanted to get everyone acclimated back to competing again after that long break.”
Despite the overall losses, the day was filled with several impressive individual performances, including a personal best for junior Anthony Shivers in the weight throw.
“He was awesome,” Turner said of Shivers. “He had another personal best of 19.6 meters, which is only .09 meters off of our school record. Usually with the first meet back from the Christmas break after a long hiatus of competing, you usually don’t see marks that good.”
Turner said he believes Shivers’s performance is the beginning of a strong rest of the season.
“He should definitely break the school record before the year is out,” Turner said.
Turner credited the junior’s renewed focus as the main reason for his recent success.
“He was a very talented athlete coming out of high school, but he just hadn’t realized his potential,” Turner said. “But this year he is all in. He’s doing all the little things well. Now that he’s a lot more focused, it’s now starting to manifest itself and sharpen his performance.”
The Irish posted strong performances in the women’s 200- and 400-meter sprints as well, sweeping first, second and third place in both races. Senior Margaret Bamgbose secured first place for the Irish in the 200-meter, finishing in 24.79 seconds, while sophomore Parker English and freshman Kyla Lewis were not far behind with times of 24.88 and 25.20, respectively. Turner said he was particularly excited about the performances of English and Lewis.
“Parker English and Kyla Lewis were running very well in the early part of the race, and actually Margaret had to overtake those two in the last 50 meters of the race to pull out the victory,” Turner said. “To see a freshman and sophomore competing against Margaret, who [is] a four-time first-team All-American, I was pretty excited to see that.”
Turner said he was also proud of Bamgbose, and he added he has grown used to her standout performances.
“We expected a very good day from Margaret because that’s just what she does for us. She’s pretty steady all the time,” Turner said.
Although the team had moments of excellence, Turner said he left the meet disappointed with the team’s overall effort.
“There were a couple of our athletes who I felt could have competed a little bit better, and I told the team after the meet that each and every time you put the monogram on your chest, you’re all out,” Turner said. “You’re representing not only this team, you’re representing the University, you’re representing your hometown, you’re representing your parents, so we need to get that solid effort.”
The Irish will compete again Saturday in the Notre Dame Invitational at Loftus Sports Center.
