Spartans vault into Loftus to take on Irish track team
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Assistant Sports Editor
Looking to remain undefeated, the Irish men's track and field team takes to the track for the second time this season when they host Michigan State tonight at Loftus.
The Irish are coming off a commanding victory over Western Michigan and Ball State last Friday night.
The Spartans, meanwhile, travel down from East Lansing on the heels of a strong showing at the Red Simmons Invitational in Ann Arbor last weekend.
"Michigan State is a Big Ten school, so naturally they have some great athletes," said sprints coach John Millar.
Pole vaulter Paul Terek heads a strong Spartan attack. The senior came back from a redshirt year in style in Ann Arbor, breaking his school record with an NCAA provisionally qualifying vault of 17-feet, 8 inches.
The strong Spartan pole vault attack does not end with Terek. Classmate Matt Deering finished second to Terek last weekend with a personal-best vault of 17-feet.
Irish vaulters Nathan Cahill and Josh Heck, who vaulted 15-6 and 15 feet last Friday, will have their hands full.
"I don't know that our guys can catch them," said jumps coach Scott Winsor. "We might need to make up those points in other areas."
Where the Irish should hold a strong advantage is in the sprints. Sophomore Tom Gilbert is coming off a dominating performance in last week's meet. Gilbert's first-place time of 21.74 in the 200 meter dash was more than a second quicker than the 22.76 posted by Michigan State's Terry Jenkins last weekend.
Jenkins should provide a challenge for the Irish in the 60 meter hurdles. His seventh-place time of 8.41 seconds is just ahead of Irish freshman Mark Barber's fourth-place time of 8.58 last week.
The high jump proved to be a strong event for the Irish last week as well. Andrew Cooper took second with a career-best leap of 6-9, while Quill Redwine followed Cooper with a jump of 6-7.
Michigan State junior Jeff Kus placed eighth at the Red Simmons meet with a jump of 6-6.
"I think if our jumpers jump as well as they can, we can take the top two spots in that event," said Winsor of the high jump.
The Irish will be very strong in the middle distance events. Senior Terry Wray and freshman James Bracken Ñ who both broke 50 seconds in the 400 last week Ñ will be joined by senior Travis Davey and junior William "Red" Croker. Davey, who is nursing a tender hamstring, finished first in the 60 meters last weekend. Croker ran an effective leg in the 4x400 meter relay.
In the 500 meters, sophomore Nick Setta, on loan from the football team, will get a finally get a race. Last week, Setta missed first place in the event by less than .3 seconds while coming out of the slow heat. Setta will be joined in the event by junior Mike Mansour, who took third last week in a time of 1:05.23.
The Irish boast a strong core of distance runners. In the 800 meters, senior Nate Andrulonis finished second in a time of 1 minute, 55.41 seconds. In the mile run, junior Pat Conway broke away from the pack in the final 300 meters to win in a time of 4:14.51.
The 3,000 meter event will be strengthened by the return of Ryan Shay, who competed in the mile run last week. Shay qualified for the Olympic Trials last year in the 10,000 meters and is better suited for the longer events.
"If there was a 10,000 meter race indoors, we'd run him in that," said Irish head coach Joe Piane.
The meet kicks off at 7 p.m. on the Meyo track.
All Sports Stories for Friday, January 26, 2001
