A handful of Eastern track and field athletes headed to the campus of Notre Dame University for the Alex Wilson Invitational last Friday and Saturday.

The meet was a last chance for distance runners Dan Stackeljahn and Kevin Atkins, sprinter Alicia Harris and members of the distance medley relay team to reach provisional or automatic qualifying times for the NCAA Indoor Championships held next weekend in Arkansas.

None of the Panthers were able to reach those high marks, but men’s track and field coach Tom Akers was impressed with the outcome from South Bend, Ind.

“I was very pleased with the runners,” Akers said. “We had some very good performances.”

On the men’s side, Strackeljahn had the highest individual finish, placing 18th in the one mile run on Saturday. The sophomore’s time of 4:08.66 was roughly four seconds from being granted a provisional time for the NCAA Championships. Strackeljahn finished ahead of runners from Notre Dame, Colorado State, Wisconsin and Villanova.

“Dan’s performance was just outstanding,” Akers said. “He came out with a new fast indoor time at this meet.”

The men’s distance medley relay team of Atkins, Casey Becker, Jake Stout and Strackeljahn finished last in an 11-team field on Saturday with a deceiving time of 10:23.22.

“We were rolling to a pretty good time at the start of the meet, but then the leaders took off and left everybody way out,” Akers said. “Coach Mac (assistant coach John McInerney) shut down Strackeljahn on the last leg because he was in no man’s land without anybody to run with and he was coming back in the open mile the next day.”

Minnesota won the event (9:31.53), while Georgetown, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Texas and Colorado State all received automatic berths in the NCAA with times under 9:35.00.

Atkins also came back on Saturday to compete in the 800 meter run. The senior from Granite City finished the race in 19th-place at 1:55.12.

“When you go to a big size track meet you’d like to run a little better,” Akers said. “After winning the Ohio Valley Conference meet (February 28) as a team, the adrenaline may not have been as high for him running at a meet based more on individual performances.”

Harris represented the women’s squad competing in one event (400 meter dash) over the weekend. The speedster from Wheaton finished fourth in the sprint event with a time of 55.38. Harris just missed the standard for a provisional time which was set at 54.50.

If Harris or any of the Panther runners qualified for a provisional time there was no guarantee they would have made the trip to Arkansas. Provisional times are only used if all of the automatic spots for an event aren’t filled and then the best of the provisional times fill out the remaining field.

With no Panthers qualifying for the NCAA Championships, the indoor season is now complete. Akers was quite satisfied as the men the OVC title and the women placed third.

“I was definitely pleased with both the men and the women,” Akers said. “About half the roster with 10 women and 13 men set personal bests this year. Anytime you can shoot about .500 percent we’re going to be pleased with that.”