Cross Country Prepares For Pre-National Meet

Oct. 12, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – After a week off, the Notre Dame men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete in the pre-national meet in Bloomington, Ind., the site of this year’s NCAA championships. The 12th-ranked Notre Dame women’s team is coming off a win at the Notre Dame Invitational where the Irish beat then 13th-ranked Missouri for the title with a combined score of 57, 16 points less than the second-place Tigers, who had 73. The 17th-ranked men’s team had a strong showing against some of the top talent in the nation at the Notre Dame Invite, finished third behind Michigan and Georgetown, who tied for the meet title with a team score of 81.

THIS WEEKEND: Notre Dame will not be running in the Central Collegiates, Friday, Oct. 15 as scheduled. Twelve runners from both the men’s and women’s squads, however, will compete in the pre-national meet in Bloomington, Ind. on Sat., Oct. 16 with seven of the 12 from each squad running in the ‘A’ race and the remaining five competing in the ‘B’ race.

On the men’s side, junior Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.), Luke Watson (Stillwater, Minn.), Marc Striowski (Toronto, Ontario), John Dudley (Westwood, Mass.), Sean McManus (Hernando, Fla.), Ryan Maxwell (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Patrick Conway (Springfield, Va.) will compete in the A race for the Irish. The men’s A 8K race, which begins at 10 a.m., includes 15 teams, in addition to the Irish, in the top 25 of the latest NCAA Div. I poll.

The B race line-up for the Irish, which will run at noon, includes Sean Zanderson (Poway, Calif.), Mike Greiwe (Tampa, Fla.), John Beck (Torrington, Wyo.), Kevin Brown (San Jose, Calif.) and Antonio Lopez (Albuquerque, N.M.).

The women’s line-ups were not available at press time, but should include all of the team’s top runners: Leanne Brady (Trumbull, Conn.), JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), Kari Eaton (Wadsworth, Ohio), Jennifer Handley (Barrie, Ontario), Alison Klemmer (Troy, Mich.), Chrissy Kuenster (Wheaton, Ill.), Erin Luby (Inverness, Ill.), Cara Motter (Brawley, Calif.), Erin Olson (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Bridget O’Brien (Bloomington, Minn.), Patty Rice (Mishawaka, Ind.) and Muffy Schmidt (Miles City, Mont). The women are set to compete in the A race, which includes 18 of the top 25 teams, at 11:15 a.m. and the B race begins at 12:45 p.m.

PRE-NATIONAL HISTORY: Last year, the men placed 12th of 32 teams at the pre-national meet in Lawrence, Kan., and were led by then sophomore Ryan Shay, who finished 17th. The women did not compete at the meet, running at the Michigan Interregional in Ann Arbor, Mich., the next weekend.

The Irish men have had success at the pre-national meet in years past with former All-Americans John Coyle (1991 – 31:04) and Michael McWilliams (1991 – 31:07) still holding the ninth and tenth fastest times when the race was 10,000 meters.

IRISH MOVE UP IN THE POLLS: The women’s team has steadily moved up the national rankings in 1999. Ranked 22nd in the FinishLynx preseason poll, the Irish moved up to 14th after winning the National Catholic Championships. Following the Notre Dame Invitational, the women have moved up to 12th in the nation and have stayed there the past two weeks.

After having not been ranked in the preseason poll, the men made their first appearance in the 20th slot following their third-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational, October 1. After the week break, the men have since moved up to 17th nationally.

MONDO NCAA Div. I
Men’s XC Poll (10/11)

FinishLynx NCAA Div. I
Women’s XC Poll (10/11)