Track and field competes at ACC indoor championships

The Irish track and field team kicked off their postseason in impressive fashion at the ACC indoor championships in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Irish got off to a great start on day one of the meet when sophomore Jadin O’Brien won the pentathlon with a new personal best of 4,377 points, which placed her first in the country in that event.

In the distance events, sophomore Erin Strzelecki took seventh in the 5000m run with a time of 16:16.47. On the men’s side, freshman Ethan Coleman took second with a time of 13:52.09, and sophomore Carter Solomon took fourth place with a time of 14:00.42.

Both distance medley relays also saw success. The women’s team consisting of senior Katie Thronson, junior Eve Balseiro, graduate student Katie Ryan and junior Olivia Markezich took second behind a strong kick from Markezich in the last leg. The men’s DMR team also placed second.

On day two of the meet, sophomore Madison Schmidt took second place in the high jump with a mark of 1.80 meters.

In the final day of the meet, the Irish started off strong in the women’s mile race. Thronson took second place with a time of 4:39.81, and graduate student Anna Sophia Keller took eighth with a time of 4:43.95.

Elsewhere on the track, Markezich ran an impressive 3000m race, finishing in third place with a time of 9:01.82.

In the field, junior Michael Shoaf placed third in the shot put with a mark of 18.38 meters.

Overall, the women’s team placed sixth with 53 points, and the men’s team placed 12th with 24 points.

The Irish will now have a couple of weeks off before the team’s top athletes travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico in the middle of March for the indoor track and field championships.