Irish make history with six broken records at home
By BRIAN BURKE
Sports Writer
Going into the only home competition of the year, the Notre Dame men's and women's track and field teams looked to stay sharp in preparation for upcoming traveling meets.
Placing first in the four-team field, which both the men and women did, would have been enough to accomplish that goal. The Irish however, made some history as well.
The men's 4x100 meter relay time of 40.68 seconds run in 1991 by the football player quartet of Clint Johnson, Rod Smith, Willie Clark and Raghib Ismail is now the second fastest in Notre Dame history.
Travis Davey, Chris Cochran, Tom Gilbert and Marshaun West set a new track and Notre Dame record with their time of 40.22 seconds.
"I wasn't surprised they broke the record, but I was surprised they broke it by that margin, considering the guys that had run it before," assistant coach John Millar said. "I think the weather helped us out a bit. It turned out to be good."
"We're very proud that this is a record we earned," Davey said. "[Head] Coach [Joe] Piane was telling us there were no football players on the 4x100. This is our sport, it's a track record, and we worked hard for it."
Cochran and Davey finished first and second in the 100 meters with times of 10.77 and 10.93 respectively, while Cochran and West finished first and second in the 200 meters with times of 21.55 and 21.64.
West and Gilbert were the top two long jumpers as well, with jumps of 24 feet 7 3/4 inches and 23-0 3/4.
While the men's 4x100 set an impressive new record, the women went for quantity, setting seven school or track standards.
Among those was the women's 4x100 meter relay team of Tameisha King, Carrie Lenz, Kymia Love and Liz Grow who set a new school and track record with a time of 46.32.
"That was kind of expected," Millar said. "The women's team has really improved over the past few years; we have a good nucleus of runners now. That record will continue to fall as they improve."
Perhaps the top individual performance of the men or women was that of Jamie Volkmer, who set school and track marks in both the triple jump and pole vault.
Her triple jump of 39-10 3/4 broke the existing track record by more than a foot, and the school record by more than two feet. Volkmer's pole vault height of 11-5 sets a new school and track standard by 11 inches.
The women's javelin school record was surpassed as well as Andre Duplechain's throw of 116-7 bested Katie Knecht's 1997 mark of 115-10.Also setting Monogram Track records were Jennifer Engelhardt, Liz Grow and Leanne Brady.
Engelhardt's high jump of 5-9 broke the record of 5-8 she previously shared with 1998 teammate Kelle Saxen and Meghan Gilhooly of Miami. Grow's time of 54.16 in the 400 meters was a new track record by almost two seconds, while Brady's 2:13.29 in the 800 meters was also a track best.
In all, the Irish turned in 10 first place finishes for the men and 14 for the women. The final scores for the men were Notre Dame 227.5, Western Michigan 216.5, Miami 153 and Butler 43.
For the women, the final was Notre Dame 237.5, Miami 141.5, Western Michigan 131 and Butler 86.
The Irish travel to Oxford, Ohio this weekend for the Miami Invitational.
All Sports Stories for Monday, April 3, 2000
