Feb. 21, 1998

Notre Dame Men's Track Fourth, Women 12th at BIG EAST Indoor Championships

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Jason Rexing won his third consecutive BIG EAST indoor 5,000 meters title as Notre Dame's men's teams stands in fourth place with 21 points after the first day of the BIG EAST track and field championships in Syracuse, N.Y. Notre Dame's women's team is currently tied for 12th with nine points. Georgetown leads the men's field with 42 points while Rutgers leads the women's with 31. The conference champions will be crowned on Sunday.

Rexing's time of 14:24.31 provisionally qualified him for the NCAA indoor championships and edged Georgetown's Justin McCarthy by 1.55 seconds. The senior All-American has won the 5,000 meters in each of the three years Notre Dame has been a member of the BIG EAST conference, becoming the first man to win the same event three straight years since 1994. Teammate Antonio Arce finished sixth with a time of 14:44.35.

The Irish distance medley relay team, first a year ago in 9:52.08, fell to fourth this year in 10:06.07. Jay Hofner finished seventh in the 35 lb.-weight throw while Marshaun West was eighth in the long jump.

In the 200 meters, West and Errol Williams advanced to Sunday's finals. West ran the second-fastest heat time of 21.53 while Williams was fifth in 22.11. Bobby Brown and Chris Cochran posted two of the top four times to qualify for the finals in the 400 meters. Williams also will run in the finals of the 55-meter hurdles as he ran 7.37, the top time in the semifinals.

In the women's competition, JoAnna Deeter's fourth-place finish in the 5,000 meters and Alison Klemmer's sixth place highlighted the first day for the Irish. Deeter finished in 16:42.14 while Klemmer ran 17:13.17. Notre Dame's distance medley relay team finished eighth in 12:10.34.