ND TRACK AND FIELD: Runners hope to tune-up at Georgetwon
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Senior Staff Writer
The Notre Dame track and field team is sending a number of athletes to Georgia Tech this weekend for a final tune-up before the NCAA Championships. But head coach Joe Piane made one thing clear when the weekend's lineup was compiled — graduating seniors Liz Grow, Luke Watson and Ryan Shay will be staying put in Indiana.
"I tell these kids all the time, the graduation isn't for them, it's for their parents," Piane said. "The parents want to be there for this and this is something the parents have been dreaming about longer than [the students] have. I'm not going to try to snatch that away from any parent."
Without Grow, who has already automatically qualified for the NCAA meet in the 400 meters and is a a key member of the Irish 4x100 and 4x400 teams, the other members of Notre Dame's sprint group will concentrate on their individual events.
That includes sophomore Ayesha Boyd, who reached the NCAA provisionally qualifying time in the 200 meters in late March. Boyd, whose time of 23.6 seconds ranks her 31st in the country heading into the weekend, likely needs to improve upon that mark to sneak into the NCAA meet.
"I want to give her another shot at improving her time," said sprints coach John Millar.
Without Grow, the 4x400-meter relay team, currently ranked eighth in the country, will have to sit on its May 11 provisionally qualifying time of 3 minutes, 34.46 seconds. Two other members of that team, juniors Kymia Love and Kristen Dodd, will compete in the 400 meters.
Millar is also confident that his women's 4x100 meter team will make the cut without a final competition. That team, comprised of Grow, Boyd, Love and junior Tameisha King, is currently ranked eighth.
King, who already provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet in the long jump with a leap of 6.31 meters on March 30, is looking to end the regular season on a high note. After competing in the hurdles and relay events at the Big East Championships, King can use this meet in her hometown of Atlanta to concentrate on one event.
"She's been struggling on her approach a little bit, hitting the board," said sprints coach Scott Windsor. "She's been jumping far, but she's either fouled it or she's been missing the board. This weekend, we're just looking for improvement."
Another woman, freshman Lauren King, looks to use the Georgia Tech meet as a springboard for the NCAA Championships in the 1,500 meters. King currently sits on the bubble with the 4:21.10 time she posted at the Big East Championships on May 5. But King won that race with little competition, leading women's distance coach Tim Connelly to believe she can go even faster.
"I can see her making the [NCAA] final and scoring," Connelly said. "She's still learning how to race."
Junior Jennifer Handley and sophomore Megan Johnson will compete in the 5,000 meters. Handley already has reached the NCAA provisional mark, and is ranked 27th in the country with her March 29 time of 16:28.55.
"Right now, Jen's going to have to run a little bit faster," Connelly said.
On the men's side, sophomore Kevin Somok and freshman Eric Morrison will compete in the 1,500 meters. Neither has reached an NCAA qualifying standard yet this year, so the Georgia Tech meet is meant as a sort of capstone to their seasons.
"What are their chances of qualifying for the NCAA's? To be candid, I don't think they're great," Piane said. "That's not our reason for going down there. Our reason for going down there is to try to get them to run faster."
Sophomore Todd Mobley also reached the provisionally qualifying standard in the 10,000 meters earlier this season at Stanford, but Mobley is ranked so low that neither he nor Piane anticipate he will making the cut. Mobley has already returned home to Michigan.
All Sports Stories for Friday, May 17, 2002
