March 7, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Logging the second fastest time in the country, the Notre Dame men's distance medley relay team of seniors Chris Cochran (Crystal Lake, Ill.), Tim Kober (Gillette, N.J.) and Phil Mishka (Toledo, Ohio) and sophomore Luke Watson (Stillwater, Minn.) have qualified to compete at this year's NCAA indoor track and field championships in Fayetteville, Ark., March 10-11.

The relay team automatically qualified for the championships with a time of 9:38.15 at last weekend's Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame. The Irish have the second fastest qualifying time in the nation so far this season, with Stanford running the top time of 9:32.44.

The Irish will compete Friday at 8:10 p.m. (CST) in the last event of the night. The relay consists of four legs with the first being the 1,200-meter run (Mishka), the second being the 400-meter run (Cochran), the third being the 800-meter run (Kober) and the 1,600-meter run (Watson) finishing out the relay.

This year's men's distance medley relay team is the third in Irish history to qualify for the championships with both having earned All-America honors. The most recent team to qualify was in 1997, when Jeff Hojnacki, Danny Payton, Derek Seiling and Jason Rexing finished eighth.

Junior Terry Wray (Brandon, Miss.) and senior Antonio Arce (Palmdale, Calif.) also will travel to the meet as alternates.