Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Women's Cross Country Claims adidas/Notre Dame Invitational Title

Oct. 1, 1999

? Complete Team, Individual Results

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The 14th-ranked Notre Dame women’s cross country team claimed first place, while the men took home third in the blue division at the adidas/Notre Dame Invitational Friday afternoon at the Notre Dame Golf Course.

The Irish were paced on the women’s side by individual winner senior JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), who won the 5K race in 16:52, to capture her third Notre Dame Invite title in four years. On the men’s side, junior Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.) became the first Notre Dame men’s runner since Bill Clark in 1964 to win the individual 8K title. Shay outdueled second-place runner Jay Cantin of Michigan by just two seconds at the finish line, completing the course in 23:52.

Deeter was joined in the top 10 by classmate Alison Klemmer (Troy, Mich.), who finished third with a time of 17:21, while freshman Jennifer Handley (Barrie, Ontario) placed sixth in 17:36. Deeter, Klemmer and Handley were joined by the team’s number four runner senior captain Erin Luby (17th-17:55) and fifth runner Patty Rice (30th-18:15) to post a combined score of 57. The 13th-ranked Missouri Tigers placed second with a score of 73.

In addition to Shay, the Notre Dame men received a top 10 performance from sophomore Luke Watson (Stillwater, Minn.), who placed seventh in 24:10. Sophomore Marc Striowski (Toronto, Ontario) and senior John Dudley (Westwood, Mass.) also finished in the top 20 for the Irish with 16th and 19th-place finishes respectively. Senior Sean McManus (Hernando, Fla.) rounded out the Irish top five runners to give them a third-place team score of 86, just five points more than the co-invitational winners Georgetown and Michigan, tied with 81 points.

In the other race results, Minnesota State-Mankato came away with the men’s gold division title with Edinboro’s Yimin Wu winning the individual gold crown in a time of 24:59. Kyle Baker, who ran unattached, won the men’s open race in 24:09, while Carrie Gould, running unattached, won the women’s open race in 17:46.

This was the 44th running of the men’s race and the 13th women’s race. The Notre Dame Invitational was started in 1956 by former Irish coach Alex Wilson in 1956, which makes it one of the oldest cross country invitationals in the nation.