Blacksburg, Va. – The University of Notre Dame Cross Country team prepares to compete in the 2026 ACC Cross Country Championships on Friday, October 30 at the Buford Meredith Cross Country Course in Blacksburg, Virginia, a 3.1-mile course that sits on the campus of Virginia Tech.
ACC-ESPN Live Webcast / Meet Information
The No. 15 Notre Dame men finished first at both the National Catholic Invite and the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite. At the Under Armour Pre-National Invitational the Irish men finished third as a team behind then No. 8 Syracuse and then No. 14 Villanova. The Irish ran against eight ACC opponents over the course of the regular season. Daelen Ackley has been the top finisher for Notre Dame on the men’s side all season. Ackley won both the National Catholic Invite and the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite, he finished fourth overall at the site of the 2026 Cross Country National Championships with a time of 23:20.5. Ackley has not finished lower than fourth so far through three races in 2026. He has earned ACC men’s cross country Performer of the Week honors twice this season.
The No. 8 Notre Dame women finished first at the National Catholic Invite to open the season. The Irish women finished second at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite. The Notre Dame women finished third as a team behind then No. 2 BYU and then No. 1 NC State at the Under Armour Pre-National Invitational. The Irish women faced 10 different ACC opponents during the regular season, finishing ahead of nine of them. NC State was the only conference opponent to finish ahead of Notre Dame. Mary Bonner Dalton has been the top finisher for Notre Dame two out of three times this season. She finished 26th in 20:00.0 at the Under Armour Pre-National Invitational. Dalton was the top finisher for the Irish placing 11th with a time of 16:09.88 at the Joe Piane as well.
Friday, October 30
10:10 a.m. ET – Men's Championship Race (8,000m)
Daelen Ackley / Noah Bontrager / Ethan Coleman / Max Douglass / Drew Griffith
Jack Henzke / Kevin Sanchez / CJ Singleton / Cameron Todd / Kellen Williams
11:00 a.m. ET – Women's Championship Race (6,000m)
Isabel Allori / Amaya Aramini / Mary Bonner Dalton / Gretchen Farley / Bridget Gallagher
Mary Grace Hegberg / Chloe Huyler / Addison Knoblauch / Rosie Mucharsky / Reagan Riley
Notre Dame ACC Championship history
|
Finish |
Men |
Women |
|
Champion |
2018, 2020, 2021 |
2024 |
|
Runner-up |
2019 |
2016, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2025 |
|
Third |
2013 |
2015, 2019 |
|
Total top-three finishes |
5 |
8 |
Notre Dame Cross Country has had four individual ACC cross country champions- two men and two women: Molly Seidel (2015), Anna Rohrer (2016), Yared Nuguse (2020) and Carter Solomon (2022).