The Workshop
Journal
Personal Briefing

🌅Personal Briefing - Monday, April 20, 2026

Good morning. Audi Crooks picked Oklahoma State - not Notre Dame - in a late Sunday-night announcement, ending the portal saga. Notre Dame baseball got swept at No. 8 FSU. Utah lacrosse posted the first shutout in program history (18-0 over Queens), and Luke McNamara broke the single-season scoring record. NFL Draft week starts Thursday with five Buckeyes expected in Round 1. Warm, near-summer here - 81°F and sunny today.

🏃Training

🏃Today's Plan

📅 Build week 1/1 - 5K in 2 weeks Races: 5K (05-02) - 11d · 10K (06-20) - 60d · Half Marathon (10-11) - 173d · Half Marathon (11-14) - 207d

🏃 Today (Monday): 10-min easy run · 10-min abs · 5-min stretch Z2 balance is at 50% (target ≥80%) - easy effort today to bring it back up.

Best window: Lunch - 74°F, sunny, wind 7 mph

📊This Week

Tue: 10-min easy run · 10-min abs · 5-min stretch - keep the easy base going Wed: 10-min easy run · 10-min abs · 5-min stretch - hard day - save your legs ⚠️ Wed weather looks rough (50°F, rain) - consider swapping hard/easy days.

This week: 1 runs · 1.1 mi · 11 min Zone check: 50% easy - ⚠️ below target. Your easy days are still too fast, RT. Slow down to 9:30+/mi on easy days.

Recent runs:

  • Mon 04-13 · 1.1 mi · 9 min · 8:09/mi (Z3)
  • Tue 04-14 · 1 mi · 7 min · 6:59/mi (Z5)
  • Fri 04-17 · 2 mi · 17 min · 8:36/mi (Z3)
  • Sat 04-18 · 3.6 mi · 34 min · 9:18/mi (easy)
  • Sun 04-19 · 1.1 mi · 11 min · 9:09/mi (easy)

✓ 7 family walk(s) this week - keep it up, those matter too.

☘️Notre Dame Sports

🏀Women's Basketball

Audi Crooks picks Oklahoma State. The portal drama ended Sunday night with a social-media video - Crooks in an Oklahoma State jersey, dancing alongside Cowgirls coach Jacie Hoyt. The 6-3 center stays in the Big 12, joining former Florida guard Liv McGill on a remade Stillwater roster that is suddenly a top-10 preseason team. Crooks led Division I in field-goal percentage (64.9%) and was second in scoring (25.8 PPG) last season; ESPN ranked her No. 1 in the transfer portal.

What it means for Niele Ivey. Despite weeks of social-media tea leaves - Crooks following Ivey, Hidalgo, and KK Bransford on Instagram - the Irish never got her. Notre Dame remains talented up top (Hidalgo back, Bransford back) but still needs interior size with the program's big targets off the board. Expect Ivey to turn to the remaining portal board this week.

Last Result: Elite Eight - UConn 70, Notre Dame 52 (March 29)

🥍Lacrosse

Women's ACC quarterfinal Wednesday in Charlotte. No. 6 Notre Dame (12-4, 6-4 ACC) draws No. 3 Clemson at 8 PM ET on ACC Network at American Legion Memorial Stadium - two of the league's hottest offenses in the opening-round nightcap. All eight teams in the ACC field are ranked in the IWLCA top 15.

No. 1 men have Syracuse on deck. After holding off No. 15 Duke 7-6 on Friday - a late three-goal Blue Devils run fell one short - the Irish (9-1, 2-1 ACC) get their last home game Saturday against No. 4 Syracuse at Arlotta. ACC seeding and a No. 1 overall NCAA seed are on the line.

Upcoming:

  • Women's: vs. #3 Clemson (ACC Tournament QF) - Wed, April 22, 8:00 PM ET (ACCN)
  • Men's: vs. #4 Syracuse - Sat, April 25, 12:00 PM ET (home, ACCNX)

Last Results:

  • Men's: W 7-6 at #15 Duke (April 18)
  • Women's: W 18-3 vs. Louisville (April 16)

🏈Football

Blue-Gold Game Saturday - five days out, 2:00 PM ET on Peacock. The regular-season script is already set: No. 4 in ESPN's too-early Top 25, CJ Carr on Heisman watch, and the nation's highest returning production (67% offense, 77% defense). Running back depth is still a concern - Aneyas Williams in a no-contact elbow brace, Kedren Young out with a torn ACL, Javian Osborne recovering from wrist surgery - so the Blue-Gold reps for Lathan Whisenton and freshman-year Isaiah Rogers will matter. Tickets still start at $10.

Upcoming: Blue-Gold Game - Sat, April 25, 2:00 PM ET (Peacock) Season Opener: Sept. 5 at Wisconsin (Shamrock Series, Lambeau Field, NBC)

📋Around the Program

  • Baseball swept in Tallahassee. FSU rallied past the Irish 6-4 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep (11-0, 9-7, 6-4). Notre Dame led 4-2 through six innings in the finale before a four-run Seminole seventh. The Irish fall to 17-18 overall, 7-14 ACC - and 1-11 across their last four ACC series. They'd need roughly 8-1 down the stretch to get back into NCAA tournament consideration.

🔴Utah Utes

🥍Lacrosse

18-0. First shutout in program history. Record night. No. 20 Utah (9-3, 4-0 ASUN) rolled Queens 18-0 Saturday at Ute Field - the first shutout by any Division I program this season. Luke McNamara dropped six goals to reach 52 on the year, breaking the Utah single-season scoring record and becoming the first Ute ever to hit 50. Zachary White had a career-best seven assists in a seven-point night. Shot totals: 52-16 Utah; faceoffs 15-7 Utah; 17 caused turnovers. Air Force visits Saturday for the regular-season finale - a rematch of last year's ASUN Championship.

Upcoming: vs. Air Force - Sat, April 25 (home, regular-season finale) Last Result: W 18-0 vs. Queens (April 18)

🏈Football

Spring workouts winding down. Morgan Scalley's group is through most of its 15 countable practices, with OC Kevin McGiven praising Devon Dampier's command of the offense - pre- and post-snap decision-making on new concepts. Scalley is pushing for better two-minute execution on both sides. Injury count stayed low despite the highest percentage of live reps in Scalley's tenure. Saturday's 22 For U Fan Day at the Spence Eccles Field House replaced the traditional spring game.

Season Opener: Sept. 3 vs. Idaho (home)

🤸Gymnastics

Offseason. Oklahoma's second straight NCAA title (198.1625 to LSU's 198.0750) is in the books; the Red Rocks wrapped Thursday with strong individual-event showings from Neff, Padurariu, and Zirbes.

📋Around the Program

  • Softball drops a heartbreaker at Baylor, 3-2. Hailey Maestretti was dealing - one earned run, three hits, a career-high eight strikeouts, her 11th complete game - but two miscues on the game's final play sent Gianna Gusman and Brooklyn Carter across for the winning runs. Danika Wilson's two-run homer in the third was Utah's only scoring. The Utes sit 30-17-1 overall, 6-11-1 in Big 12 play.

🌰Ohio State Buckeyes

🏈Football

NFL Draft week opens Thursday in Pittsburgh. All five Ohio State invitees are projected first-rounders - Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, Carnell Tate, Caleb Downs, and Kayden McDonald - tying the NFL record for most draftees from one school actually attending (Ohio State also had five in 2016; Alabama in 2012). Reese is the favorite to go No. 2 overall to the Jets (80%+ of mocks), with Tate top-10 in 85%+ of projections, and Reese, Styles, Tate, and Downs all widely projected inside the top 10. If four go top-10, Ohio State becomes just the third program ever to pull that off (Michigan State 1967, Notre Dame 1946).

Spring game in the books. Saturday's rainy Horseshoe scrimmage went to the Gray Defense 35-26 in front of 40,240. Freshman WR Chris Henry Jr. announced himself (4 catches, 96 yards, 40-yard TD from Tavien St. Clair), Julian Sayin scored on a 4-yard TD run on the opening drive, and Connor Hawkins was 2-for-2 on field goals in his first-ever attempts. DE Beau Atkinson picked off a tipped Will Smith Jr. throw. Freshman QB Luke Fahey broke off a long TD run to close it. Ryan Day on the 51 new players: "No substitute for being out there in the stadium, even in a setting like this."

Upcoming: NFL Draft Round 1 - Thu, April 23, 8:00 PM ET (Pittsburgh) Season Opener: Sept. 5 vs. Ball State (home)

🏔️Treasure Valley

🎉Events & Things to Do

  • Tue-Sun 4/21-4/26 - Les Misérables (Broadway in Boise): Morrison Center. Opening 7 PM Tuesday; evening shows through Saturday; 1 PM and 6:30 PM matinees April 25-26. 2 hr 55 min, one intermission. Ages 10+.
  • Wed 4/22 - AFI: 8 PM, Knitting Factory. Punk legends on the Bodies tour.
  • Wed 4/22 - SHAYFER JAMES (Counterfeit Summoning Tour): 8 PM, Neurolux, $26.83.
  • Wed-Sat 4/22-4/25 - Vintage Market Days (Treasure Valley): Upscale juried vintage market - 100+ vendors, live music, food. Check listings for location and hours.
  • Thu 4/23 - Chris Webby: 8 PM, Revolution Concert House (Garden City).
  • Fri 4/24 - Gimme Gimme Disco: 8:30 PM, Knitting Factory. Back for another round.
  • Fri 4/24 - Los Tigres del Norte (Los Tigres del Mundo): 8 PM, ExtraMile Arena.
  • Sat 4/25 - Drew & Ellie Holcomb (Never Gonna Let You Go Tour): 8 PM, Egyptian Theatre.
  • Sat 4/25 - Capital City Public Market: 10 AM-2 PM at the Grove.
  • Sat 4/25 - Boise Farmers Market: Last weekends at the downtown location before the move - worth the visit.
  • Sun 4/26 - Idaho Steelheads Game 3 (Kelly Cup Playoffs vs. Allen): 4:10 PM, Idaho Central Arena. First home playoff game after two in Allen.

🍽️Food & Drink

No new openings today. Still incoming this spring: The Boise Post (16th-floor downtown rooftop at the AC/Element Westin on Grove between 10th and 11th), Coa Cantina (Barber Valley, tacos + full cocktail program), and Boise Thai Noodle House expanding to 908 W. Main in the old Alia's Coffeehouse space. Krossfade Kombucha Cocktails also plans a tasting room/HQ opening in early 2026.

📰Local Headlines

  • Summer-like Monday. 81°F and sunny today, winds 5-10 mph out of the southeast, 0% chance of precip. Low near 53°F tonight. Rain and 50s return mid-week - good day to get a greenbelt ride in.
  • Steelheads open Kelly Cup Playoffs Thursday. Idaho travels to Allen for Games 1-2 (Thu 4/23, Fri 4/24, 6 PM MT at CUTX Event Center), then returns home for Games 3-5 (Sun 4/26 4:10 PM, Mon 4/27 7:10 PM, Tue 4/28 7:10 PM if necessary) at Idaho Central Arena. Allen holds home-ice by one point.
  • Work Zone Awareness Week. April 20-24, ITD reminder - expect more enforcement on state highways all week.
  • Brewery-location bill. A new state law could expand where Treasure Valley breweries can operate; watch for Boise/Meridian permit activity in the coming weeks.
  • Drought emergency still active. Governor Little's April 14 declaration covers all 44 counties. Statewide SWE at 11.2 inches - 52% of median peak, second-lowest since 1982.

🔗Worth Reading

Generated on Monday, April 20, 2026

All briefings