Notre Dame falters in dual meet at Bloomington
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Assistant Sports Editor
Despite a school record-tying hurl in the 35-pound weight throw by senior Matt Thompson, the men's and women's track and field teams fell short of victory in a dual meet at Indiana University.
The men's squad won seven of the 15 events, but it wasn't enough to beat Indiana, as Notre Dame lost, 89-73.
"We had good performances, and just a couple of people didn't perform up to their capabilities, and it cost us," head coach Joe Piane said.
The Irish competed without All-Americans Marshaun West and Ryan Shay, both of whom are out with injuries. West led the Irish at their home opener with an NCAA qualifying leap in the long jump, but injured his hamstring last week and is day-to-day. Shay, a distance runner, has not yet competed this season due to Achilles tendonitis.
"We could have scored a few more points if Marshaun had been there," Piane said. "You put Marshaun back, and you run what we were capable of in the 3,000 [meter run] and the 800 and we're right back in it."
Thompson threw 58 feet, 3 1/4 inches to tie his own school record and win the 35-pound weight throw.
Freshman Tom Gilbert scored his first collegiate win. He leapt 23-6 3/4 to give Notre Dame the win in the long jump, despite West's absence.
The Irish men won five running events in the losing effort against the Hoosiers. Three of the five winners were repeats from the home quadrangular last week.
Senior Chris Cochran again came out victorious in the 200-meter dash, and helped the Irish 400-meter relay team to its second consecutive victory with a time of three minutes, 20.10 seconds.
Senior Phil Mishka had his second straight win in the 600-meter run.
Sophomore Luke Watson returned from winning the 3,000-meter run last week to beat out a tough field in the mile with his time of 4:11.76.
Anytime you go out and set a personal record, you got to be happy with it,"Watson said.
Notre Dame also brought a new winner to the victory stand — junior Terry Wray had his first win of the season with a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash.
But the seven event victories couldn't put the Irish over the top.
"I think that we were pretty inconsistent across the board," Watson said. "There were a few good performances that came up, but overall, we were pretty average. We kind of trained through it."
The women were not able to match the Hoosiers, as the Irish only won four events in the dual meet.
"A lot of our performances were flat," senior Jen Engelhardt said. "Even though we're trying to pull off the meet in terms of points, we basically train through them. We're really looking towards the bigger meets like the Big East and the Meyo and the Alex Wilson."
Sophomore Liz Grow dominated the field in the 400-meter dash, finishing more than a second ahead of the second-place runner.
Junior Leanne Brady came into her own, winning her second consecutive 800-meter race in a time of 2:15.20.
All-American Jen Engelhardt was short of her 5-10 season-opening jump, which met provisional qualifications for the NCAA Championships. But her mark of 5-7 3/4 in the high jump kept her undefeated for the season.
"I was pretty happy with the performance," Engelhardt said. "It just shows that I'm looking to improve. I'm looking forward to this next meet at home."
The fourth and final win for the women came from freshman Jennifer Handley, one of the cross country team's top performers this fall. Handley won the mile in a time of 5:03.28.
"I didn't run as fast as I wanted to run," Handley said, "But I personally think I ran pretty smart. I didn't try to control most of the race."
The Irish return home Friday for the Meyo Invitational, with hopes that the home crowd will inspire them to victory.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 1, 2000
