Just in case anyone cared ND hosted the ACC Indoor Track
by Domerduck (2017-02-28 01:03:09)
Edited on 2017-02-28 01:20:35

Championship Thursday, Friday, & Saturday. Replays for Friday and Saturday's meet can be found on WatchESPN. ND women ended up 5th and ND men were 8th while Miami won the women's and Virginia Tech won the men's meet. Last year the meet was in Boston, the women were 3rd (but had 20 points from Molly Seidel) and the men were 7th. It is too bad Molly had a recently discovered stress fracture for this indoor meet but they are being cautious so we can have her back for the outdoor season.

The big star for ND individually was Jessica Harris who got two golds, winning the indoor mile and anchoring the Distance Medley Relay which ND edged Clemson by .36 seconds. Both races were to the wire and the mile final (Saturday) is worth a watch if you like running races. Jessica held off the same Clemson runner who she passed at the end of the DMR to win this time by only .06 seconds. There was a fun interview by a surprised Harris after her mile win on the Saturday replay.

The only other individual ACC championship was Anna Rohrer who Friday defended Seidel's 5k winning the race 26 seconds over 2nd place finisher. Had Molly not been hurt ND would have gone 1/2 again but the other 2 ND runners (Pelletier & Rambo) finished 7/8 to score for ND. Still both of them plus 16 other runners were lapped by Anna on the ND 320 M oval course.. Anna didn't have enough in her to double for the 3k as she lead most of the race but was passed in the final lap to end up 3rd. Last year Molly doubled in the 3k/5k with ACC championship meet records which were not broken this weekend. Anna was interviewed on ESPN/ACCN after her 5k win (Friday replay) and commented how running with Molly would have made her races so much easier. I think her having to set the pace for both races made it too difficult for her to double.

On the men's side they had no winners with the best showing coming from 2016 ACC champ Pole vaulter Nathan Richartz who ended up 3rd. Other noteable showing was the men's mile where 4 ND runners qualified for the 10 who ran in the final (out of 31 runners) and ended up 5, 7, 8, & 10 in that race on Saturday. Also Troy Pride (ND football player) had a personal best in the prelim 60M dash (6.77) to beat out 17 other runners to run in the final where he placed 8th 6.83-fast young man.

Richards will be the only male qualifier for the NCAA's to be held in Texas A&M March 10-11 joining the 3 women qualifiers, the DIstance Medley Relay team, Harris in the mile, and Rohrer in the 5K. Last year the women ended up finishing 5th in nationals when Molly doubled again for 20 points and the 3K & 5K NCAA Indoor championships. She will be sorely missed for this upcoming meet.

I linked Saturday's UND article since it isn't linked in the recent articles to the right as it was a busy ND weekend for olympic sports (ACC Fencing championships-which ND dominated, golf, & swimming/diving).




OT: What do you think about our indoor track? Is it
by rick  (2017-03-02 09:32:49)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

better to have our longer track or a more standard 200 meter track? Are the turns on our track sufficiently wide? I know the local high school track teams don't run in their old field houses because the turns are too narrow and it's too tough on the kids' knees.
Just speculation, but maybe the rumored Loftus redesign will include a reconfigured track.


The Meyo track is superior to any 200m track...
by ErikND96  (2017-03-03 07:39:59)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

... including the elevated/banked ones like at Harvard and BU (unless they've updated it recently). While the turns may be "tighter" than an outdoor 400m track, they're not "tight" by any stretch. For the distance events its clearly faster.

It does preclude hosting the NCAA championships, but am not sure ND is really jonesing for that anyways


The WatchESPN track analysts all said it was superior and
by Domerduck  (2017-03-03 19:43:36)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

all the major conferences are trying to have their indoor meets on the oversized tracks if they can get one. This means ND may get a few more ACC championships. One of the announcers was Decathlete Dan O'Brien.


I'm confused about Molly.
by G.K.Chesterton  (2017-02-28 13:16:56)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Did she know about the stress fracture before the ACC championships? How is it that she ran?


She didn't run. Her last ND race that I could find was
by Domerduck  (2017-02-28 15:03:40)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

January 21 (linked in my post below). When I watched the Rohrer 5k and 3k race on WatchESPN it was mentioned she hurt herself in New York but I hadn't found any references to it in Google or on the ND site but only had a this quote from Turner, ND's head coach in the Feb 21 Observer pre ACC championship article. “Molly Seidel, right where her tibia meets her ankle, has a stress fracture,” Turner said. “So we are going to hold her out because if she runs and makes it a worse injury, then she is out for the entire season. So unfortunately she is going to miss the ACC indoor championships. "

After seeing your post I tried a little harder and found this earlier Observer article (linked below) which had the following on Molly:

The third destination for Notre Dame track athletes this weekend was New York and the Millrose Games, as graduate student Molly Seidel aimed to compete in the 3,000-meter run and record a top-16 time in the country to put her in position to compete at the NCAA championship. However, Seidel slipped on the ice Saturday and hurt her ankle and was not able to compete. Sparks said the team did not want to risk Seidel’s health and that the graduate student will wait for another opportunity to compete in the event.

“With Molly, we decided to err on the side of caution and not run her,” Sparks said. “Hopefully [her injury] will only last a couple days, so that she can get ready for the postseason in a couple of weeks.”

So it looks like it came from slipping on the ice in New York (why it was referenced on ESPN?ACCN)....too bad.


My fault. I realize my mistake.
by G.K.Chesterton  (2017-02-28 17:32:54)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I conflated the January story with the ACC championship story. Thanks for unconfusing me.


Thanks for the recap. Hope Seidel heals for the spring
by prof_frink  (2017-02-28 10:31:59)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

season.


Too bad she can't defend her 2 NCAA championships in Texas
by Domerduck  (2017-02-28 12:38:28)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Part of Anna's pressure on the 3K where she had to set her own pace was she still needed a qualifying to time so she could compete in the 3K in nationals. The ACC championship time didn't qualify so she burned herself and had no kick in the end for the race losing in the final lap Molly only raced once in indoor winning the mile on January 21 (link below) running with Anna. Obviously the injury kept her from getting a 3k or 5k qualifying time. I really hope she is available for the outdoor season.