Nuguse anchors Notre Dame to fastest oversized track performance in men’s collegiate indoor history to edge Ole Miss, which relies on Vissa’s late rally to take women’s DMR

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

The message became loud and clear to distance medley relay teams preparing to compete Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational at the Loftus Center at Notre Dame.

If you are a men’s lineup and not running under 9 minutes, 25 seconds, or a women’s quartet without a sub-11 performance, there is a strong possibility your school might not be among the dozen finalists in each gender competing March 11 at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.

Following the deepest collegiate men’s DMR race ever showcased on an indoor 200-meter oval Friday at the Arkansas Qualifier at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, the Alex Wilson Invitational produced the top seven NCAA marks ever achieved on an oversized track, highlighted by host Notre Dame prevailing in 9:21.73.

Samuel Voelz, Max Frye, Tim Zepf and Yared Nuguse held off the Ole Miss lineup of John Rivera, Jacob Lough, Tiarnan Crorken and Mario Garcia Romo, which clocked 9:21.94.

Voelz and Nuguse were not only part of Notre Dame’s DMR lineup that won the Division 1 indoor title in 2019 at the CrossPlex, but were also members of the quartet that ran the previous all-time collegiate best on an oversized track of 9:25.80 at the 2020 Alex Wilson Invitational.

Notre Dame became the No. 4 school in indoor history, regardless of track size, with the fifth-fastest performance. Ole Miss was already the No. 2 collegiate program with the third-fastest mark by running 9:20.75 last year at Arkansas.

Indiana (9:22.78), Princeton (9:23.30), Michigan (9:23.78), Wisconsin (9:23.85) and Texas (9:23.99) all ran faster than Notre Dame’s performance two years ago.

Washington still holds the collegiate-leading mark of 9:21.10 from Friday’s victory at the Arkansas Qualifier, with five schools producing sub-9:25 efforts, making the cutoff time the 9:24.56 achieved by the host Razorbacks necessary to qualify among the top 12 programs for NCAA Indoor Nationals.

Only three men’s teams ran faster than Arkansas’ performance this season at last year’s Division 1 indoor championship meet.

After five women’s teams put themselves in the national top 12 on Friday at the JDL DMR Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C., four more schools produced sub-11 efforts at the Alex Wilson Invitational to join the potential Division 1 qualifiers.

It was a reversal from the men’s race, as the Ole Miss quartet of Anna Elkin, Jayda Eckford, Loral Winn and Sintayehu Vissa edged Notre Dame’s Erin Sullivan, Jadin O’Brien, Kaitlin Ryan and Olivia Markezich by a 10:57.76 to 10:57.84 margin.

Utah (10:59.24) and Michigan (10:59.46) also placed themselves in the national top 10, with the cutoff at 11:00.05, the converted time from Virginia’s 11:07.12 mark on the 200-meter flat track Friday at JDL.

Only four women’s programs eclipsed the 11-minute barrier at last year’s Division 1 indoor final.

Kayla Windemuller of Michigan won the women’s mile in 4:44.81 at Notre Dame, followed by Evie Miller of Trine clocking 4:45.13.

Miller’s performance was the third-fastest in NCAA Division 3 history on an oversized track and elevated her to the No. 6 performer overall on any indoor surface.

Texas teammates Yusuf Bizimana (1:47.27) and Cole Lindhorst (1:47.46) took the top two spots in the men’s 800 meters. Ackeen Colley of Western Illinois also moved into the Division 1 top 20 with a 1:47.98 effort.

Notre Dame’s Rachel Tanczos emerged victorious in the women’s weight throw with a first-round effort of 73-11.50 (22.54m).

Louisville junior Trey Allen had a 7-2.50 (2.20m) clearance in the men’s high jump to hold off Ohio State’s Shaun Miller, Jr., at 7-1 (2.16m).

Ohio State freshman Amaya Ugarte cleared 6-0.50 (1.84) to triumph in the women’s high jump.