Notre Dame track and field: Atkinson back on track

A familiar face returned to the Notre Dame men’s track and field team Saturday and helped the Irish men to a second-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational.

Junior Josh Atkinson, a reserve wide receiver/cornerback for the Irish football team, took second in the 60-meter dash (6.96 seconds) and in the 200 (21.99) in action at the Loftus Center.

It was his first track competition since his freshman year at ND, when he, twin brother George Atkinson III and cornerback Bennett Jackson all came over from the football team to compete. Josh Atkinson’s highlight that year was a fourth-place finish in the 100 (10.39) at the Big East Outdoor Meet.

Jeremy Rae set an ND record in the 1,000 on Saturday (2:22.07) to help the Irish men to within eight points of first-place Michigan State (179-171). Southern Illinois (112) and Illinois State (107) rounded out the field.

Clay High product Jarrod Buchanon of ND won the 60 hurdles (8.11), ran a leg on the third-place 1,600 relay team (3:18.60) and finished second in the 500 (1:04.96) to teammate Chris Giesting (104.52) and just ahead of teammate Spencer Rheinhardt (105.50), a Warsaw product.

[body_starts_here]The Irish won the women’s portion of the meet with 179 points, followed by Michigan State (173), Southern Illinois (133) and Illinois State (84).