Irish Primed For Stacked Field At Wisconsin

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — In the final meet of the regular season, the Notre Dame men’s and women’s cross country teams will look to continue building their resumes when they toe the line at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.

The crowded Wisconsin field will give the Irish a postseason preview, with 20 of the country’s top 30 teams providing a fair simulation of November’s NCAA Championship. And with five Atlantic Coast Conference teams in attendance, they will gain a stronger sense of where they stack up heading into the ACC Championships in two weeks.

Friday will mark the first six-kilometer race of the season for the Irish women, who have raced 5K in their previous three meets. The men will race 8K for the penultimate time before advancing to 10K for the NCAA regional and national championships.

Meet Information

What: 11th Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
When: Oct. 18, 2019
Where: Zimmer Championship Course | Madison, Wis.
Schedule of Events: Women’s B Race, noon ET | Men’s B Race, 12:40 p.m. ET | Women’s Championship, 1:20 p.m. ET | Men’s Championship 2 p.m. ET

The Field

Ranked Men’s Teams: No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Iowa State, No. 7 Oregon, No. 8 Portland, No. 10 NC State, No. 11 Purdue, No. 12 Syracuse, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 15 Indiana, No. 16 Virginia, No. 18 Michigan, No. 19 Wisconsin, No. 20 UCLA, No. 22 Utah State, No. 23 Princeton, No. 25 Eastern Kentucky, No. 26 Boise State, No. 28 Tulsa, No. 30 Wyoming

Unranked Men’s Teams: Air Force, Bradley, Cal Poly, Colorado State, Columbia, Furman, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Harvard, Michigan State, Missouri, New Mexico, Providence, Southern Utah, Wake Forest, Washington State

Ranked Women’s Teams: No. 1 Arkansas, No. T4 Stanford, No. T4 New Mexico, No. 6 Utah, No. 9 NC State, No. 10 Michigan State, No. 11 Boise State, No. 13 Wisconsin, No. 14 Oregon, No. 15 Syracuse, No. 16 Notre Dame, No. T18 Furman, No. T18 Minnesota, No. 21 Air Force, No. 22 Ohio State, No. 24 Columbia, No. 25 Oregon State, No. 27 Northern Arizona, No. 28 Georgetown, No. 29 Iowa State

Unranked Women’s Teams: Cal Poly, Colorado State, Harvard, Indiana, Missouri, Portland, Providence, Purdue, Southern Utah, Tulsa, UCLA, Utah State, Villanova, Wake Forest, Washington State, West Virginia

Irish Championship Lineup

Men (alphabetical): Andrew Alexander, Matthew Carmody, Dylan Jacobs, Danny Kilrea, Peter Monahan, Yared Nuguse, Tony Williams
Women (alphabetical): Maddy Denner, Jackie Gaughan, Kelly Hart, Annasophia Keller, Jocelyn Long, Anna Rohrer

By the Numbers

1 — The Irish opened the 2019 season with first-place finishes at the Crusader Open on Sept. 6 and at the National Catholic Invitational on Sept. 20.
1 — The Irish men’s cross country program claimed first place at the 2018 ACC Championships and were picked by the league’s coaches to repeat in this year’s ACC Preseason Coaches Poll.
2 — The Irish women’s squad finished second at last year’s conference championship, and ranked No. 2 in the 2019 ACC Preseason Coaches Poll.
3 — Three Irish women return from last season’s Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational field — Jackie Gaughan, Anna Rohrer and Annasophia Keller.
4 — The Notre Dame men and women each finished fourth at the 2018 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.
4 — The Irish women’s team returns four student-athletes who competed at the NCAA Championships last season.
6 — The Irish men’s team returns six student-athletes who competed at the NCAA Championships last season.
6 — Six Irish men return from the 2018 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational field.
7 — Each team may race up to seven individuals in the championship race.
13 — Junior Yared Nuguse paced the Irish men with a 13th-place finish at last year’s Nuttycombe Invitational.
13 — Sophomore Jackie Gaughan was the highest Irish women’s finisher at 13th at last season’s Nuttycombe Invitational.
13 — The Irish men came in 13th in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll.
16 — The Irish women ranked at No. 16 in the most recent USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll.
20 — The number of teams either ranked or receiving votes in both the men’s and women’s championship races.
36 — The number of teams making up each field.

Notable

• Following his sixth-place finish and 43-second PR (23:28.10) in leading the Irish to a fifth-place finish at the Joe Piane Invitational, Yared Nuguse was named the ACC Men’s Performer of the Week last Wednesday.
• After finishing in sixth place to lead all ACC runners at the Joe Piane Invitational, graduate student Anna Rohrer was named the ACC Women’s Performer of the Week.
• The Irish men placed fifth at the Joe Piane Invitational, while the women came in eighth in the final home meet of the season.
• The Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational will feature 36 teams in both men’s and women’s fields. Both races will feature six of the nation’s top 10 teams and 10 of the top 15.
• Both Irish men and women came out on top in the season’s first two meets, first at the Crusader Open on Sept. 6 before opening the home slate on top at the National Catholic Invitational on Sept. 20.
• The Irish men recorded a perfect score at the National Catholic Invitational taking the top five spots. Dylan Jacobs took the NCI title in his cross country debut, followed by Matthew Carmody (second), Peter Monahan (third), Zach Kreft (fourth) and Tyler Keslin (fifth). 
• The Irish women are led by three-time cross country All-American and 2016 ACC Cross Country Champion Anna Rohrer. After missing her junior cross country season, Rohrer returned as a senior and paced the Irish to an eighth-place national finish as the team’s top finisher in 10th place. All told, Rohrer is an eight-time All-America honoree between cross country and track.
• Sophomore Danny Kilrea finished 33rd at last season’s NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors.
• Junior Yared Nuguse won a pair of national championships during the track season, anchoring the men’s distance medley relay at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships and winning the 1,500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. He finished third at both the ACC Cross Country Championships and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional last season.
• Sophomore Jackie Gaughan was also a major contributor for the Irish women last season, finishing seventh at the ACC Championships and sixth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.
• Maddy Denner and Jocelyn Long were mid-year transfers for the Irish last season, enrolling in January and competing during the track season. Denner competed in the 10,000 meters at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, finishing 19th.
• Graduate student Tony Williams and senior Kevin Salvano are serving as men’s team captains this season, while graduate students Anna Rohrer and Kelly Hart serve in the same capacity for the women’s squad.
• Sean Carlson was promoted to head men’s cross country coach prior to the season. He had spent the previous five seasons as an Irish assistant coach primarily focused on distance. 

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