Irish set to unleash talent at season-opening indoor meet
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
They're young. They're exuberant. They're talented.
And Notre Dame's women's track and field team wants everyone to know it.
"We want to establish ourselves as a national powerhouse this year, not just a Midwest one," said junior Liz Grow.
"We're getting to the point now where if things fall into place and we continue to improve, we can do some good things," said Irish head coach John Millar.
Today's indoor meet against Ball State and Western Michigan is the first opportunity the Irish have to compete against another college this season. The Irish, who have been training as a team since September, are anxious to get out and prove themselves.
"We're real excited," Millar said. "We've got a good group of athletes who are starting to come around and really want to be successful. It's taken us a few years to build the program, but now we're getting close to where we're at."
The Irish are counting on top performances from Grow, who qualified for the NCAA finals in the 400 meters last season, and sophomore All-American Tameisha King, who placed ninth in the nation last year.
Grow will be running both the 200 meters and the 400 meters today. "I never open the season running the quarter," she said. "I just want to run a smart race and win."
Grow has set loft goals for herself this season. "I expect to improve on my times, and I expect to go to nationals," she said.
But she also has high expectations for the team. "We want to get the [4x400] relay to nationals for the first time in Notre Dame history," said Grow. "And breaking school records — that's not even a question."
The Irish will also look for King to compete in more events this season. Last season, King primarily competed in the long jump, but showed promise in the hurdles. This season, Millar wants to have King work more on the hurdles.
"We think she can be a national competitor in the hurdles as well as in the long jump," he said. "The talent's there, it's just a matter of her working a little bit more on that."
"We've just been focusing on getting her fit," said Irish assistant coach Scott Winsor.
In addition to King and Grow, the Irish sprinting corps are also expecting contributions from senior Carrie Lenz, who took fourth in the 400 meter hurdles at the 2000 Big East outdoor meet, freshman Ayesha Boyd, sophomore Kymia Love and junior Tiffany Tatum.
Notre Dame has one of the most versatile field events athletes in the nation in sophomore Jaime Volkmer. Against Ball State, she will not be competing in her specialty event, the pole vault. Instead, the Irish coaches are entering her in the high jump, the triple jump, and the long jump in order to pick up some valuable points.
"She has to go into competition with an attitude. She needs to tell herself that she's as good as anyone out there," Millar said. "As soon as she develops that, she's going to be one heck of a competitor to deal with."
The Irish are particularly deep in the pole vault. Volkmer is not entered in the pole vault today because Irish coaches believe that Natalie Hallet and Bethany Wilson can take first and second place.
The Irish have done a good job of filling the gap left by Jennifer Engelhardt, who took seventh in the Olympic Trials in the high jump. "Jaime hasn't high jumped since high school, but we think she can do well for us there," Windsor said. "Jennifer Kearney had a really good fall. We think she can win the high jump tomorrow."
Junior Dore DeBartolo, who could become one of the greatest throwers in Notre Dame history, will not be competing during the indoor season due to a foot injury, but is expected to return in time for the outdoor meets.
"Not having Dore hurts a lot," Winsor said. "She's tough to replace."
The big question mark for the Irish is in the distance crew. The Irish will count on a young, unproven group of runners to earn points in the distance events.
"We've got some kids who are talented, we just have to get them up to their potential," said Irish assistant coach Tim Connelly. "We just need to get off to a good start. If we get off to a good start, they get confident."
Sophomore Jennifer Handley is the top returning talent for the Irish. She took 12th place in the 3,000 meters at the 2000 Big East finals. Junior Hilary Burn is also expected to contribute in the distance events.
But success in the distance will depend on contributions from freshmen. "The freshmen are going to have to decide if they are going to compete at this level right away," Connelly said.
Nevertheless, the Irish coaches believe their young team is up to the test.
"There are things you have to do to be successful in college," Connelly said. "But it comes down to one thing — you just have to line up and race."
The youth of the Irish doesn't concern Millar.
"They're really competitive, and that's what we need," he said. "Mentally, their focus is really there to perform at a high level."
Today is the first chance for the Irish to prove what they are capable of. And if they share the mindset of Grow, the Irish could be a very powerful team.
"Ball State actually won this meet last year," she said. "That's not going to happen again this year."
All Sports Stories for Friday, January 19, 2001
