On Saturday, the Notre Dame indoor track and field team competed in the Notre Dame Invitational, their second home meet of the season. Akron, DePaul, Lewis, Loyola-Chicago, Oakland, Stephen F. Austin, Toledo and Valparaiso joined the Irish in South Bend.
Women’s results
Notre Dame dominated the women’s high jump, accounting for each of the top four finishers. Graduate student Madison Schmidt took first with a 1.81-meter leap, with graduate students Gabby Grattan (1.66m), Alaina Brady (1.66m) and Addison Berry (1.61m) slotting in as the next three behind her. The Irish also got an individual win from junior Ore Olusi, who delivered a 13.69-meter throw in the shot put.
Rounding out the field events, sophomore Gabriella Zeller claimed second with an 11.45-meter triple jump, while freshman Ashley Fisher took home third with a long jump of 5.38 meters.
Fisher and Zeller found even more success on the track with the 4x400m relay team, joining juniors Molly Bennett and Reese Sanders to win in 3 minutes and 52.1 seconds. Fisher also claimed fifth in the 200m with a time of 26.04 seconds, while Bennett and Sanders went one-two in the 400m, finishing in 57.06 and 57.71, respectively.
The Irish accounted for three of the top four 3000m finishers and three of the top seven 800m runners. In the 3000, freshman Mary Bonner Dalton ran unattached to a victory in 9:30.59, while freshman Addison Knoblauch (9:40.11) grabbed third and freshman Amaya Aramini (9:42.33) claimed fourth. In the 800, senior Sophie Novak crossed the finish line first in 2:07.28, ahead of the fifth-place freshman Nicki Southerland (2:11.63) and the seventh-place sophomore Gretchen Farley (2:12.93).
Notre Dame also populated the leaderboard in the mile, as senior Siona Chisholm took third in 4:40.50, freshman Isabel Allori finished fourth in 4:41.92 and Farley captured fifth in 4:47.98. Six more Irish distance runners made the top 21 in that race.
Freshman Maya Collins led the way in the 60m for Notre Dame, winning both the preliminary race in 7.50 seconds and the finals in 7.45.
Men’s results
Notre Dame’s most prolific event on the men’s side was the shot put, as five Irish throwers (one competing unattached) crowded the top seven. Freshman Luke Himes finished second (17.22m), sophomore Zach Petko third (16.80m), graduate student Yoosang Kim fourth (16.42), freshman Peyton Murray fifth (15.45m) and graduate student Joey Zayszly seventh (13.38m). Three of those throwers helped the Irish to another strong showing in the weight throw. Fourth-place sophomore Ben Condrin (17.47m) and fifth-place junior Matthew Teague (16.46m) finished ahead of Petko (15.08m), Himes (14.74m) and Murray (14.31m), who all cracked the top 10.
Mirroring the women’s team, the Irish men scored a first-place finish in the 4x400 relay, as graduate students Dimitri Nicholson, Jason Marchese, Zayszly and William Doyle ran in a combined 3:13.31. Marchese also won the 400m in 47.90 seconds, finishing ahead of fourth-place Doyle (48.95 seconds). Nicholson, the tone-setter in the 4x400 win, took second in the 60m with a time of 6.78 seconds, while freshman John Dearie captured third in the 60m hurdles in 8.24.
Moving on to the longer events, graduate students Zach Hughes (1:50.32) and Eli Meder (1:50.52) respectively took second and third in the 800m. In the mile, freshman Ryan Pajak (4:05.40) earned fourth, just ahead of classmate Jack Henzke (4:05.45) in sixth.
The Irish will run again at home at the Meyo Invite on Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1. Other athletes will travel to the KSU DeLoss Dodds Invitational on Friday in Manhattan, Kansas.
