Notre Dame hopes to fight past injuries
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Assistant Sports Editor
To reach their goal of placing in the top three at the Big East Championships this weekends, the Irish men's track and field team will need more than one athlete to step up.
For one athlete, that might be harder than for others.
Junior jumper Quill Redwine tore his meniscus in his right knee while competing in the triple jump at Notre Dame's Meyo Invitational two weeks ago. The injury will eventually require surgery, but Redwine will still compete in the high jump this weekend because his plant foot leg is his left.
"He was looking to do great things in the triple. That's not pleasant news," said Irish field events coach Scott Winsor.
Redwine isn't the only field events competitor competing at less than full strength. Junior pole-vaulter Josh Heck missed Notre Dame's meet at the Windsor Invitational last weekend due to a gluteus injury. This week, Heck missed three days of practice due to flu-like symptoms.
Heck will compete this weekend, but may enter at a later height and must concentrating on clearing the bar on his first attempt at each height in order to conserve his strength.
"I think he's ready to go," Winsor said. "He's not going to have a lot of energy. He's not going to have tons of vaults in him so he's going to have to make them count."
Despite Redwine's injury, the Irish remain in position to walk off with quite a few points in the triple jump. Freshman Godwin Mbagwu enters the meet ranked first in the event, having cleared 50 feet in the season's first meet. Despite the fact that this weekend will mark only the second away meet in Mbagwu's young career, Winsor doesn't think his jumper will be phased.
"To me it's always interesting to sit down and see how underclassmen respond to that," Winsor said. "I think he'll do fine. He's pretty level headed."
Also competing in the triple jump for Notre Dame is sophomore Scott Kelley, who placed seventh in the conference last season with a mark of 45-9.
"He's looking very good in practice," Winsor said. "I think he can score, that's why he's going."
In the long jump, sophomore Tom Gilbert enters the meet ranked No. 5. However, Gilbert has battled illness and fatigue the last two weeks and his coach believes his best jump is yet to come.
"Tom really needs to focus on his long jump warm-up, and that's what we've talked about this week," Winsor said. "I think he feels that he can win."
Distance runner Ryan Shay will face his toughest collegiate competition this season as he competes in both the 5,000-meters and the 3,000-meters. Shay's time of 13:52.66 in the 5,000-meters is less than two seconds ahead of Providence's Keith Kelly, the NCAA Cross Country Champion.
In the 3,000 Shay and teammates John Keane and Mark Striowski will have their work cut out for them. Villanova's Adrian Blincoe has posted a time of 8:01.53, nearly 20 seconds ahead of Shay and 30 seconds ahead of Keane.
In the sprints, senior Travis Davey will be the lone Irish runner competing in the 60-meter dash. Davey brings in a time of 6.91 seconds, currently ranked seventh. Millar believes Davey has the ability to run even faster.
"He started out running really well," sprint coach John Millar said. "Then he got hurt, I think he can definitely make finals."
Gilbert and Davey will compete in the 200-meters, as will junior William "Red" Croker.
Gilbert's time of 21.74 seconds in the 200-meters currently ranks him third, although that time was posted on the much faster Meyo Track at Notre Dame. Davey competed in the 200-meters at the Big East meet last season, while Croker is competing at the conference meet for the first time.
Freshman James Bracken will be the lone Irish competitor in the 400-meters, as Millar elected to enter senior Terry Wray, junior Mike Mansour and sophomore Nick Setta in the 500-meter race.
"Bracken's our fastest quarter-miler right now," Millar said. "Terry Wray and Nick Setta probably have a better chance of making the finals and scoring in the 500."
Pat Conway returns from two weeks off to compete for the Irish in the mile. Conway has posted a time of 4:11.52 this year and is expected to score.
Junior Nate Andrulonis will compete in the 4x800-meter relay as well as the distance medley relay team. With Anrdulonis not running in the 800-meters, underclassmen Doug Gunzelman, Colin Quinn Tom Weiler will be asked to step up.
For the Irish to place high, they will need above-par performances from a variety of athletes. Senior high jumper Andrew Cooper will need to excel with Redwine jumping at a disadvantage.
"For us to finish in the top three people like Coop are going to have to step it up," Winsor said. "We are going to have to get some unexpected performances."
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 16, 2001
