The Notre Dame track and field team began a busy stretch in its spring season over the past weekend. The Irish sent competitors to the Mt. SAC Relays (Walnut, California), the Wake Forest Invite (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) and the Jim Green Invite (Lexington, Kentucky).
Out in California, senior Jadin O’Brien added another achievement to her decorated college career. The graduate student set a school record in the women’s heptathlon, scoring 6115 to claim fourth place overall. Additionally, because she scored better than 6000, O’Brien automatically qualified for the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials.
At Wake Forest, Notre Dame shined in the women’s 800-meter run. Freshman Gretchen Farley won the event with a time of 2 minutes and 7.72 seconds, beating out graduate teammate Kate McAndrew by 67 hundredths of a second. Freshman Kaleigh Gunsiorowski also finished inside the top 10, taking ninth with a time of 2:10.63.
Graduate student Claire Sievern took eighth place in the women’s 800-meter invite by running in 2:03.92, and junior Molly Grant earned fourth in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:26.19. Now the ACC’s 3000-meter steeplechase leader, graduate student Olivia Markezich snatched second place in the event with a 9:36.33.
On the men’s side in North Carolina, sophomore Daelen Ackley became the lone top-10 finisher by running the 1500 in 3:40.77. His time positioned him in 10th place.
Notre Dame produced another event winner in Lexington, as sophomore Reese Sanders triumphed in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Her time of 59.89 seconds put her in the ACC’s top 10 for the season. Freshman Ellis Weekley (1:02.78) and sophomore Molly Bennett (1:03.37) took fourth and eighth place, respectively, rounding out a successful event showing from the Irish. Sanders and Weekley also factored into a sixth-place Notre Dame run of 3:51.29 in the 4x400-meter relay.
Also on the track, graduate student Michelle Quinn ran the 100-meter dash in 11.85 seconds to take sixth place. In the high jump, senior Madison Schmidt registered a second-place jump of 1.82 meters that now ranks second in the ACC. Junior Kendall Burgess (5.71 meters) and sophomore Sarah David (39.62 meters) each took third in the long jump and javelin, respectively. Finally, senior Emma Albano claimed fifth in the hammer throw (57.11 meters), and graduate student Olivia Fabry stuck a landing in sixth in the pole vault (3.45 meters).
More impressive Irish results populated the leaderboard on the men’s side. Graduate students Jacob Ranker (52.07 seconds) and Joey Zayszly (54.19 seconds) respectively claimed second and seventh in the 400-meter hurdles. Both hurdlers also contributed to a second-place finish in the men’s 4x400, accounting for half of a 3:14.20 time. In another 400-meter event, freshman Jack Ahart slotted into third on the dash with a time of 47.90 seconds.
Notre Dame’s success again continued in field events, as graduate student Michael Shoaf added to his strong year with a second-place shot put toss of 18.79 meters. Graduate student Cole Targgart added a sixth-place finish in the discus throw, delivering a distance of 52.53 meters.
This upcoming weekend, the Irish are once again scheduled to compete in three different competitions. Notre Dame’s itinerary includes the Penn Relays (Philadelphia), the Drake Relays (Des Moines, Iowa) and the East Coast Relays (Jacksonville, Florida).
