Two first place efforts lead ND men's track and field to third place finish
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Assistant Sports Editor
There were surprises both good and bad as the Irish men's track and field team took third place last weekend at the Big East Indoor Championship meet in Syracuse, N.Y.
Notre Dame finished with 83 points, behind Seton Hall's 90 and champion Georgetown's 130.5 points.
"I thought that we could have done a little bit better on the men's side," said Irish head coach Joe Piane. "We did have some good performances."
The Irish received two first place efforts, one each from Ryan Shay and Andrew Cooper. Cooper, a senior who sat out last season, sailed over the bar on his first attempt at 6 feet, 9 inches to take the gold in the high jump.
"It couldn't happen to a nicer guy," said field events coach Scott Winsor. "He made 6-9 on his first attempt and that's what it took."
Cooper's victory Sunday came a day after Shay ran for the gold in the 5,000 meters. Shay led the race throughout, pulling away in the final laps to win in a time of 14:10.1, five seconds ahead of the nearest competitor.
Shay also took second place in the 3,000 meters, behind Providence's Keith Kelly. Shay's time of 8:10.21 came in five and one-half seconds behind the NCAA cross country champion.
Shay wasn't the only strong performer for the Irish distance squad. The Irish earned nine points in the mile, as junior Pat Conway came in fourth at 4:15.22. Senior Sean Zanderson took fifth, four tenths of a second behind Conway.
Quill Redwine, competing with a torn meniscus in his knee, took seventh in the high jump, clearing 6-5.
"He was sore," Winsor said. "It would have been a good thing if he could have hit the next height. He was working on a sore knee, and he gave us what he had."
The Irish earned valuable points in the triple jump as freshman Godwin Mbagwu pulled out a jump of 48-2 on his final attempt to take second in the event.
Sophomore Scott Kelley took sixth, hopping 44-11.
"For a freshman to come through and move from fourth to second place on his last jump was very encouraging," Winsor said. "We couldn't be prouder of him."
In the pole vault, junior Josh Heck and sophomore Nate Cahill broke out of season-long struggles to take second and fifth, respectively. Both athletes cleared 15-9, but Heck took second by virtue of less misses.
"Both of them vaulted better," Winsor said. "They're still not where they need to be, where they want to be. We have two vaulters who can do some major damage outdoors."
The Irish performed less than expected in the long jump. Sophomore Tom Gilbert, expected to contend for first, took sixth, jumping 22-7, far less than his season best. Mbagwu took seventh, jumping 22-1.
"I think it was just chalk it up to a bad day," Winsor said. "We didn't get done what we needed to get done."
Gilbert raced the 200-meter preliminaries at the same time as the long jump.
His sprinting appeared to affect his jumping, according to Winsor. Winsor expects Gilbert to be able to excel in both events, as 2000 graduate Marshaun West did throughout his Irish career.
"We knew we were asking Tom Gilbert to put forth an effort that's not easy: to run the 200-meters and the long jump at the same time," Winsor said. "Those are things that we have to ask out of our better athletes."
In the sprints, the Irish failed to perform up to their capability, sending only two athletes to the finals.
"The sprinters' performance as a whole was disappointing," said senior Terry Wray. "We didn't do what we prepared to do."
Senior Travis Davey qualified for the last race in the 60-meters, finishing seventh in 6.99 seconds, only a hair ahead of former Notre Dame football player Cooper Rego, who was running for West Virginia.
In the 400-meters, freshman James Bracken took sixth, finishing in 49.46 seconds in only his second time ever running on a 200-meter track.
Wray, junior Mike Mansour and sophomore Nick Setta all failed to make finals in the 500-meters, an event all three excelled in throughout the indoor season.
The Irish came back to take fourth in the 4x400-meter relay. The team of ?Setta, Wray, Bracken and Mansour finished in 3:17.09.
"We didn't place as high as we wanted to," Wray said. "but it was one of our best times of the season."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 20, 2001
