Irish Host Blue & Gold Invite to Kick Off Indoor Slate – Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

By Staff 5 years ago

Irish Host Blue & Gold Invite to Kick Off Indoor Slate  Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

Irish Host Blue & Gold Invite to Kick Off Indoor Slate

Track and Field

Cheatham Meyo

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame track and field program will hit the track for the first time this season when they open the 2019-20 indoor season by hosting the Blue & Gold Invitational on Friday at the Loftus Sports Center.

The Irish will welcome six regional schools for the first test of the year, shaking off the rust before the competition slate begins in earnest in January.

Apart from those distance runners recovering from the recently concluded cross country season, the Irish will see a majority of their expected point-scorers compete Friday evening.

Meet Information

What: Blue & Gold Invitational
When: 4 p.m. ET | Dec. 6, 2019
Where: Loftus Sports Center | Notre Dame, Ind.
Who: Bethel University, Butler, DePaul, Detroit Mercy, Marquette, Notre Dame, Valparaiso
Links: Meet Info, Schedule of Events & Start Lists | Live Results

By The Numbers

20 — The Irish men finished the 2018-19 indoor season with a 20th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
8 — The Irish women finished in eighth place at the 2019 ACC Indoor Championships.
6 — The Irish men finished in sixth place at the 2019 ACC Indoor Championships.
4 — The total number of ACC Indoor titles Irish student-athletes claimed in 2019: men’s distance medley relay, men’s mile (Yared Nuguse), men’s weight throw (Logan Kusky) and women’s weight throw (Rachel Tanczos).
1 — The finish of Notre Dame’s men’s distance medley relay team, comprised of Edward Cheatham, Sam Voelz, Dylan Jacobs and Yared Nuguse, at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships, winning the program’s first NCAA title (also in the DMR) since 2012. The team also won the ACC title in the event.

Notable

  • The Irish host their first of four regular-season indoor track and field meets with the Blue and Gold Invitational set to take place starting at 4 p.m. ET Friday at the Loftus Sports Center.
  • The Blue and Gold Invitational will begin with field events starting at 4 p.m. ET, with the running events set to take off starting at 6 p.m. ET.
  • The Irish return to the indoor track for the first time since the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships, where the men’s distance medley relay team captured the national title. Senior Edward Cheatham, junior Yared Nuguse and sophomores Dylan Jacobs and Sam Voelz all return for the Irish this season.
  • The DMR squad captured that championship in dramatic fashion, as Nuguse overcame a seven-second gap to overtake Stanford’s Grant Fisher in the final straightaway of the final 1,600-meter leg, edging the Cardinal by 0.25 seconds in 9:31.55.
  • Nuguse was also a national qualifier in the mile, but elected to forgo the event in favor of the DMR.
  • The Irish also excelled in the weight throw last season, with senior Logan Kusky and junior Rachel Tanczos each capturing Atlantic Coast Conference titles in the event for their respective teams. Senior Abbey Kapitan also bolstered the Irish women in that event, finishing second at the league championships.
  • Sophomore men’s pole vaulter Colton Crum will look to improve upon a fourth-place ACC finish from a season ago. A former Indiana state champion, Crum cleared the bar at 5.05 meters at ACCs.
  • Senior women’s hurdler Summer Thorpe will return to the collegiate track for the first time since her national qualifying performance in the outdoor 100m hurdles. As a sophomore, she claimed All-ACC Second Team honors in the 60m hurdles and set a PR of 8.27 at the 2019 ACC Indoor Championships.

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