Oct. 16, 2012
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame senior runner Jeremy Rae (Fort Erie, Ont.) has been selected as the BIG EAST Cross Country Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 8-14, the league office announced on Monday.
Rae earned his accolades by finishing 14th out of 316 competitors on Friday (Oct. 12) with a time of 23:40 in the men’s championship eight-kilometer race at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational. Rae assisted the Irish in defeating two ranked opponents on the day in No. 29 Virginia and No. 30 Missouri.
Rae notably finished within five seconds of the six opponents directly in front of him. One of which was junior Soufiane Bouchikhi from Eastern Kentucky who posted a 23:39 finish, a mere second ahead of Rae. Bouchikhi finished 47th overall at the 2011 National Championship.
In a field of 21 ranked foes, Rae proved his strength and endurance as a national threat when he finished just 35 seconds behind Arizona sophomore Lawi Lalang. Lalang defended his title from last year’s event and was the 2011 NCAA National Champion. Rae finished 2:05 behind Lalang last year at the NCAA National Championship and has shown dramatic improvement already this season.
Rae also cut down his distance on Texas A&M senior Henry Lelei from last year’s NCAA National Championship to this year’s Wisconsin Invitational by 1:06. Lelei finished ninth at nationals last season.
This marks the second time this fall Rae has received this honor, first coming during the week of Sept. 10-16 when he finished first out of 277 runners in the five-mile race at the National Catholic Championship on Sept. 15.
Rae and the Irish return to the course on Oct. 26 for the BIG EAST Championship in Bronx, N.Y.
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