The Notre Dame track and field teams wrapped up three hard-fought days at the ACC Indoor Championships this past Monday. The women’s team earned a seventh place finish while the men finished ninth, two points short of the seventh place mark.
The meet was highlighted by the excellence of graduate Jadin O’Brien on day one. O’Brien smashed her own Notre Dame personal record in the pentathlon en route to a four-peat of the ACC pentathlon title. Her overall score of 4580 was both an Irish and ACC all-time record. She finished first in the 60m hurdles (8.17), high jump (1.70), shot put (14.45), 800m (2:13.50) and tied for first in the long jump (6.15). O’Brien's first place finish in the 60m hurdles was a healthy quarter of a second faster than second place finisher, fellow graduate Alaina Brady.
Brady finished third overall in the event with 4092 points. Fellow Irish graduate, Addison Berry, finished second with 4157. O’Brien, Berry and Brady all finished with First Team All-ACC honors. Sophomore Ellis Weekley and junior Reese Sanders rounded out the team with 12th and 16th-placed performances respectively. As it stands, Notre Dame is currently number one in the country for the event.
O’Brien has consistently been a standout athlete since arriving on campus from Pewaukee, Wisconsin five years ago. A two-time Olympic Trials Qualifier, O’Brien’s pedigree is unmatched at the collegiate level. She is currently in the hunt for her third-straight national pentathlon title and no signs are appearing that she will be stopped.
Notre Dame’s other notable performances on day one came from the women’s distance medley relay (DMR) team and junior Ethan Coleman in the 5000m. Seeded sixth coming into the event, the DMR team consisting of senior Siona Chisholm, sophomore Jordyn Borsch, sophomore Gretchen Farley and senior Sophie Novak exceeded expectations as they soared to a third place finish thanks to a time of 10:53.13, less than six-tenths of a second behind the champions, NC State. The Irish sat towards the middle of the pack through the first two legs, but a fiery kick courtesy of a 2:05.82 800m from Farley and a 4:27.80 1600m from Novak pushed the team towards the front of the pack. Both marks were the best overall splits in their respective legs.
Day two saw more school records shattered. Maya Collins broke the 60m dash record, clocking in at 7:35. Only a freshman, Collins has recorded one of the best first-year seasons in Notre Dame history. The 2024 Florida State Champion finished seventh overall in the event after dropping slightly down to a 7:41 in the final on Monday.
Meanwhile, graduate student Madison Schmidt and junior Daelen Ackley also produced big-time results for the Irish. Schmidt tied the school record in high jump, placing second overall with a 1.86m performance. Then, later in the day, Ackley dropped a sub four minute mile — his blazing 3:59.10 was inspired by a sub two minute 800m to close. Graduate Michael Danzi finished third with a time of 4:00.06.
Ackley went on to show no signs of major lactic-acid buildup as he cruised to a 4:02.11 in the men’s mile final on Monday. The junior's final 400m kick of 54:44 separated was not to be touched as he came to the finish line alone. The result also helped the team score out tremendously. Notre Dame was bottom of the barrel prior to Ackley’s heroics.
In men’s shot put, freshman Luke Himes threw 18.75m, narrowly placing him in second place behind North Carolina’s Thomas Kitchell. Himes was the top-finishing freshman by 2.08m. Fellow Irish athletes graduate Yoosang Kim and sophomore Zach Petko finished in eighth and ninth place respectively. To wrap up day three, Novak finished fourth in the women’s 3000m finals with a personal best of 8:51.94.
Several Notre Dame athletes with qualifying-standard times will be headed to the NCAA Championships March 14-15 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
