Track and Field Travels to the Notre Dame Invitational

Saturday, January 23

South Bend, Ind.

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Notre Dame Invitational

Track and Field Travels to the Notre Dame Invitational

January 22, 2016 | Track & Field

Cardinals will face tough competition at the Notre Dame Invitational

By: Kim Pemberton

Event: Notre Dame Invitational
Date: January 23, 2016
Site: Loftus Sports Center | Notre Dame, Ind.
Start Times: 10 a.m. EST Field Events / 12 p.m. EST Running Events

This Week: The Louisville men's and women's track and field teams continue their indoor season this weekend in Notre Dame, Ind., for the Notre Dame Invitational. Field events are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. EST with men's long jump followed by the women's long jump. Running events are slated to start at 12 p.m. EST with the women's 60m hurdle trials inside Loftus Sports Center.

Along with the hosting Fighting Irish, the Cardinals will compete against athletes from DePaul, Michigan, Michigan State, and Western Michigan.

According to the latest USTFCCA rankings, the Notre Dame Invitational will feature three ranked squads. The Michigan women are ranked No. 14 while Michigan State is ranked No. 19 and Notre Dame is right behind at No. 20.

Kibichiy Wins Again: For the second straight meet, Edwin Kibichiy found his name in the winning ranks. The Kapsabet, Kenya native ran a personal best of 4:09.16 to lead the field in the mile run at the UK Invitational. Kibichiy opened up the track season with a victory in the 5,000m race at the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener.

Go Long, Wash: Junior Bre'Yana Wash picked up her first victory of the season in the long jump at the UK Invitational. After trailing early on, Wash jumped to a distance of 5.87m/19-03.25 in her final jump to capture first-place. The victory was Wash's fifth in the long jump in her collegiate career.

Impressive Opening Weekend: The Cardinals opened their indoor track season by registering six victories at the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener in early December. The women picked up four wins while the men picked up two. Dolly Nyemah, Emmonnie Henderson, Raven Grant, and Benadate Cheruiyot led the women with victories while Steve Wade and Edwin Kibichiy took first-place finishes on the men's side. Cheruiyot led the women distance runners with a time of 9:48.24 en route to a victory in the 3000m run.

Strong Throws Land Victories: Of the six victories by the Cardinals in their season opener, half of them came from the throws group. Dolly Nyemah picked up the first Cardinal win of the meet with a mark of 19.74m/64-9.25 to win the weight throw. Junior Emmonnie Henderson made her indoor debut with a mark of 16.18m/53-1 to win the shot put. Senior Steve Wade threw a mark of 17.16m/56-3.75 to help the Cardinals sweep the shot put events.

Continued Success: Coming off a successful cross country season in which the men won its first NCAA Southeast Regional in program history, the men's distance runners continued to shine. Louisville took the top four spots of the men's 5000m at the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener with Edwin Kibichiy cruising to a first-place finish with a time of 14:07.40. Ernest Kibet finished second in 14:21.15 and was followed by Japhet Kipkoech and Calvin Chemoiywo, who finished third and fourth, respectively.

Immediate Impact: Freshman Raven Grant competed in her first collegiate meet at the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener and immediately made an impact. The Conway, S.C., native kicked off her collegiate career with a victory in the 200m with a 24.29 finish. Later in the night, Grant finished second in the 60m with a time of 7.55, only .04 seconds off the leader.

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