The Loftus Sports Center, where the meet is held annually, is equipped with everything from an indoor track to a turf football field to indoor golf driving nets – all available to students and student-athletes alike.,”
Track and field head coach Dave Uhrich always looks forward to the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Ind.
The Loftus Sports Center, where the meet is held annually, is equipped with everything from an indoor track to a turf football field to indoor golf driving nets – all available to students and student-athletes alike. That, paired with great competition, makes the Meyo one of the most exciting events each season, Uhrich said.
"It's probably one of the top meets of the year in terms of competition," Uhrich said. "The announcer gets into it, and the crowd is hyper. I think a lot of the athletes tend to perform better with an atmosphere like that. But they some get nerves, too."
The Meyo is pivotal because of its proximity to the Big East Championship. The meet provides many athletes who had not yet qualified one final chance to do so.
This weekend, most Big East schools will participate in smaller meets that will not allow nearly as many opportunities to qualify. Coaches whose teams were at the Meyo believe there is an urgency that heightens performance level.
"There are always keys heading into the last huge meet before the conference championship," said Louisville head coach Ron Mann. "That absolutely helps the competitive nature of it. It's crucial. Fortunately, we had a very solid two-day stretch."
Marquette also performed well. Senior Michaela Courtney, who was sidelined by an Achilles injury until last weekend, finished eighth in the mile on day two, good enough to qualify. She represented Marquette at the NCAA Championships last season in the mile.
Junior Cassie Peller, who also is in contention to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the mile, ran a season-best 4:51.71, finishing fourth.
On day one, sophomore Scott Mueller and senior Brent Des Roches qualified in the 5,000-meter run, finishing 10th and 17th with times of 14:31.13 and 14:38.88, respectively. Des Roches had missed qualifying by one one-hundredth of a second in the team's last outing. Junior Heidi Lindeman also qualified in the 5,000m, finishing in 17:18.89 and placing ninth.
Junior Jed Burey made the cut in the 500m on day one, finishing in 1:05.31.
On day two, senior Kristina Malin, who set a school record in the 600m earlier this season, ran a career-best 2:14.64 in the 800m, qualifying for the Big East meet.
Marquette could not best rival programs Notre Dame or Wisconsin, though. While there are no team scores, the Fighting Irish and Badgers each had two first-place finishers. No Golden Eagles placed first.
"It was fantastic," said Tim Connelly, Notre Dame's distance coach. "Great atmosphere. And I think that really tells you that (the Meyo Invitational) is becoming one of the one of the highest-quality meets in the nation."
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