Notre Dame Men's & Women's Track and Field
at Big East Championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Alan Wasielewski 219-631-7516

Liz Grow highlights the day for the Irish with a victory in the 400 meters. 

PISCATAWAY, NJ -- (5-6-01) The University of Notre Dame men's and 
women's track and field teams wrapped up competition in the 2001 BIG EAST 
Outdoor Championship in Piscataway, NJ, on Sunday. The women placed third 
in the meet for the third consecutive year, scoring 83 team points to 
finish behind Miami (104) and Seton Hall (95) and tied with Georgetown. The 
men's 63-point total was sixth, behind Georgetown (155), Villanova, 
Connecticut, Seton Hall and Rutgers. 

Junior All-American sprinter Liz Grow (New Braunfels, Texas) 
highlighted the final day for the women's team, capturing her second BIG 
EAST 400-meter title with a 53.17 effort in the finals. Her 52.40 time from 
the preliminary heat on Saturday has qualified Grow for a trip to the NCAA 
Championship, where she will attempt to repeat her indoor 400-meter 
All-American finish. 

Notre Dame's top sprinter was not done for the day after her 
victory in the 400. She also finished second in the 200 meters (24.20) to 
earn all-BIG EAST honors and was a member of the BIG EAST Champion 4x100 
relay team of Kristen Dodd (Toledo, Ohio), Emily Bienko (Tranquillity, NJ) 
and Kymia Love (Memphis, Tenn.). 

The 4x100 victory was the first BIG EAST titles for Dodd and Love, 
both in their first year of conference competition as freshman on the Irish 
roster. Making the relay team victory even more special was the effort of 
Bienko, who stepped in to replace Tameisha King on the day of the event. 
Love, Dodd, Bienko and Grow also finished fourth in the 4x400 relay 
(3:39.45). 

Freshman Ayesha Boyd (Spartanburg, SC) followed up her blistering 
100-meter 11.88 preliminary time on Saturday by finishing second in the 
finals in an even faster 11.86. 

Jennifer Handley (Barrie, Ont.) posted an impressive finish in the 
5,000 meters, taking second in 16:40.36 - an NCAA Championship 
consideration time.
 
Dore DeBartolo (Aurora, Ill.) solidified her position as one of the 
top point scorers on the team, finishing in the top five in three throw 
events. She took fifth in the shot put (45-6 1/2), third in the discus 
(148-11) and fourth in the hammer (178-5). 

The men's team attempted to carry the momentum of Ryan Shay's 
(Central Lake, Mich.) victory in the 10,000 meters on Saturday into 
Sunday's final races. Senior Travis Davey (St. James, NY) took seventh 
place in the 200 meters on Sunday (22.53), following up his season-best 
21.56 time in the preliminaries on Saturday. 

Freshman Napolean Suarez (Brown Mills, NJ) took sixth place in the 
finals of the 400-meter hurdles (54.12), while Kevin Somok (Southburg, 
Conn.) and Pat Conway (Springfield, Va.) finished sixth and seventh, 
respectively, in the 1,500 meters. 

Quill Redwine (San Antonio, Texas) finished off an impressive meet 
on Sunday with a sixth place finish in the triple jump (47-5 3/4), 
following his runner-up clearance of 6-10 3/4 in the high jump on Saturday. 
Josh Heck (Mishawaka, Ind.) earned all-BIG EAST honors with 
third-place 15-9 effort in the pole vault - a personal-best finish at the 
conference outdoor meet for the Irish junior. 
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Alan Wasielewski, Publicity Assistant
University of  Notre Dame Sports Information
112 Joyce Center, Second Floor
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(219) 631-3397/(219) 631-7941 (fax)
cell phone: 219-315-5746
E-mail: [email protected]