Oct. 18, 2016
By Megan Golden
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Just months after winning her fourth NCAA Championship, Molly Seidel today announced she plans to return to Notre Dame for her final year of eligibility. Seidel, the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year, will return to campus to compete during the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons.
Seidel (Hartland, Wisconsin/University Lake School), who graduated in the spring of 2016 with a degree in anthropology, spent the past several months in Flagstaff, Arizona, reflecting on her time at Notre Dame. Throughout her high-elevation training, conversations with some of the country’s most elite runners and many phone calls to Irish associate head coach Matt Sparks, Seidel concluded her four championships are not enough.
“Molly’s decision to return speaks volumes for the passion she feels for Notre Dame,” Sparks said. “She had the opportunity to forego her final seasons of eligibility to make a good living as a professional runner. She will still be able to live out her dream as a professional athlete, but she feels like she has unfinished business left at the college level.”
Seidel recorded individual titles in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter races at the NCAA Indoor Championships last season. A three-time ACC champion, she also won the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championships and the 10,000-meter race at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
A 2015-16 First-Team Academic All-American and ACC Female Athlete of the Year, Seidel became the first individual track and field national champion in women’s program history. She is one of just three Notre Dame student-athletes to win four national championships in any sport.
Seidel, who returns to a women’s program currently ranked No. 19 in cross country, has one final opportunity to compete alongside the talented youth on the Irish roster.
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Megan Golden, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since August of 2016. In her role, she coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse and cross country/track and field programs. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Golden is a 2014 graduate of Saint Mary’s College and former Irish women’s basketball manager. Prior to arriving at Notre Dame, she worked in public relations with the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox.