Track and Field: Men's and women's squads to race at Drake
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Senior Staff Writer
Both the Irish men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams qualified to compete at this weekend's Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.
But when they take the track, they face completely different odds.
The women's squad — comprised of sophomores Ayesha Boyd and Kristen Dodd, junior Kymia Love and senior Liz Grow — currently ranks near the top in the country.
While the team is confident it can come away from Drake with a gold medal, the focus is on running an NCAA Championships automatic qualifying time of 3:33.
"We should run a 3:33 and hopefully automatically get into nationals," Grow said. "We know our team's capable of doing it, so we just now want to get this out of the way."
The same team competed at Drake last season, beating a highly ranked Baylor team in the prelims before finishing fourth in the finals with a time of 3:37.83.
But, as Grow says, that was then, and this is now.
"We're a lot better team now, a lot faster and more experienced," Grow said, noting the importance of experience at a meet that is as competitive as Drake. "You kind of have to know what you're doing in order to get through that exchange safely and still run fast. Last year Ayesha Boyd knocked a girl off the track."
While the women are in a position to sit out the finals, the men's squad — made up of seniors William "Red" Croker, Nick Saracco, Mike Mansour and freshman Trevor McClain — was unsure a week ago whether or not it would even qualify for the meet.
But with a 3:14.75 time at the Missouri Invitational earlier this month, the team qualified.
Qualifying for the meet was especially gratifying for Mansour, a Creston, Iowa, native who competed at the Drake Relays while in high school.
"It's something I've wanted to do all four years here, and to get the opportunity my senior year is especially excellent," Mansour said. "I'm running with some really great guys. That makes it a special experience, too."
But when the Irish take the track Saturday with Arizona State, one of the best teams in the country, in their preliminary heat, the team is not going to back down.
"Our first goal is to run the best time of the season and compete," Mansour said. "We didn't come here just to fool around or just run and call it a day. We're looking to compete with the best teams in the country, and that's why we're here."
The Irish have athletes competing in other events at Drake as well. Junior Betsy Lazerri is competing in the heptathlon, the only female athlete outside the relay team running for the Irish.
On the men's side, both freshman Selim Nurudeen and sophomore Napoleon Suarez competed in the 400-meter hurdles Thursday. Suarez finished seventh in his heat, finishing in a time of 54.22, while Nurudeen finished eighth in his heat in 56.72. Nurudeen also competes in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles today.
Irish head coach Joe Piane has been highly impressed with Nurudeen's progress this season, even comparing him to former Irish All-American Errol Williams.
"Selim's consistent," Piane said. "He's doing very well when you consider he's only a freshman. He's running probably as well or better than Errol Williams did at the same stage."
The Irish distance squad is fielding a 4x1-mile relay group, with senior Pat Conway, sophomore Kevin Somok, freshman Eric Morrison and senior Luke Watson comprising the squad.
"It's a great field, and Drake is one of the most fun meets that we go to all season," Watson said. "A victory would be great. Other than that, we just want to have a good time."
The Irish are also sending two field events athletes to Drake – junior javelin thrower Mike Madigan and senior discus thrower Derek Dyer.
Madigan, who sat out of competition last weekend to take the MCATs, is recovering from a sore elbow, so field events coach Scott Windsor thinks he took his tests at the right time.
"I think his elbow is better," Windsor said. "He got past the MCATs, he did okay. That weekend off actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him."
Dyer, who competed in California at the Mt. SAC and Pomona invitationals last weekend, is looking for consistency in the discus.
"He had between a 170 and 175 [foot] discus warm-up [throw in California], and he gets to the competition and it's like he tightens up," Windsor said. "He just needs to learn how to relax and let his body do what it's trained to do, and it'll do it. He's getting way too tensed up."
The rest of the Irish athletes compete at the Boilermaker Open at Purdue on Saturday, with events beginning at 9 a.m.
All Sports Stories for Friday, April 26, 2002
