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Track and Field Heads To NCAA Championships

Five athletes to compete for Irish.

June 11, 2008

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Five members of the University of Notre Dame track and field team will compete in the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships from June 11-14 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. Drake University serves as the event host.

Jaclyn Espinoza (discus), Alyissa Hasan (heptathlon), Kurt Benninger (1,500m), Adam Currie (800m) and Patrick Smyth (5,000m) will each represent the Irish at the meet.

Espinoza, Benninger, Currie and Smyth earned all-Mideast Region honors along with Anna Weber (hammer throw) and Mary Saxer (pole vault) at the regional meet held two weeks ago at Arkansas.

A total of 544 student-athletes per gender will compete in the championships. Student-athletes qualified for the championships through participation in one of four regional championship meets.

The NCAAs will see air time this week as both CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) and CBS Sports will provide coverage of the meet. Saturday's final session will be televised live on CBS between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. (CT), while Friday's activities will be televised on CBS-CSN from 7 to 9 p.m.

Costs for all-session passes are $60, while single session tickets are $15 for the Wednesday and Thursday session and $25 for the Friday and Saturday sessions. Phone orders are accepted by calling 515.271.3791. Tickets also can be purchased on the Drake Athletics website at www.godrakebulldogs.com

This will mark the first time Drake has played host to the NCAA Track and Field Championships since 1970 when track and field immortal Steve Prefontaine, competing as a freshman at Oregon, won the first of four straight individual 3-mile/5,000m titles.

The first day of the grueling 10-event decathlon gets underway Wednesday with the 100m followed by the long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m.

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