Aug. 23, 2010
2010 Notre Dame Cross Country Schedule
Notre Dame Announces 2010 Cross Country Schedule The Irish will host two meets during upcoming fall campaign
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame cross country teams will participate in five meets during the 2010 fall season. Of those five, two will be at the Notre Dame Golf Course, the National Catholic Invitational and the Notre Dame Invitational.
“We need to race more aggressively this year, we need to get more involved and engaged during the races” says veteran Coach Joe Piane. “We will be fairly deep this season, we will have 12 really solid runners and the returners all had great track seasons. I think we will have a really solid cross country season.”
“Our goal this season isn’t to get to the NCAA’s, we have done that two years in a row. Our goal is to get there and run well,” says head coach Tim Connelly. “I believe with each of these kids they have gained another year of experience and gained maturity both of which will help us get better.”
The Irish will start their seasons at the Valparaiso Crusader Invite on Friday, Sept. 3, a six-kilometer race for the men while the women will compete in a five-kilometer race. The men and women both claimed first-place finishes in the meet last year. Two weeks later on Sept. 17th is the National Catholic Invitational at the Notre Dame Golf Course. The Irish have been champions 19 times in the last 29 years on the men’s side, while the women easily took the title in 2009 season scoring only 20 points.
The first day of October will mark the Notre Dame Invitational, a high caliber 10-kilometer race featuring Arizona State (on the men’s side) Washington, and runner-up at the ’09 NCAA Championship, Oregon. On October 16, the Irish will head to Terra Haute, Ind. for the Pre-National Meet, a great opportunity to score at-large points for the team in addition to running the NCAA’s course prior to the national meet. The final meet in October is the BIG EAST Conference Championship in Syracuse, New York on Saturday, Oct. 30. Due to the tough competition in the conference the meet will prove to be an indicator of Notre Dame’s success for the remainder of the season.
On Nov. 13th the teams will compete at the Great Lakes Regional in Rochester, Mich. on Saturday, Nov. 13th. The men will run a 10-kilometer race and the women will compete in a six-kilometer contest. The top two teams out of the regional will automatically advance to the NCAA meet in Terra Haute, Ind., with an additional 13 at-large teams advancing on a points-earned basis.
The men will be returning all of their top runners with the exception of 2009 NCAA qualifier, Dan Jackson. The women also will welcome back a solid group, losing only standout runner Lindsey Ferguson and fellow teammate Beth Tacl.
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