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Irish Claim Second ACC Title In Three Years, Nuguse Captures Individual Crown

Men’s Final Results | Women’s Final Results

CARY, N.C. – For the second time in three years the Notre Dame men’s cross country team captured the ACC title, totaling just 40 points on the way to claiming the crown. The women’s team also competed, turning in a tie for fifth-place finish.

Senior standout Yared Nuguse became the first men’s runner in program history to win the ACC individual title on Friday, crossing the finish line in 23:03.6, marking the second-fastest time by a winner at the event since 1968. 

Nuguse joins Anna Rohrer (2016) and Molly Seidel (2015) as ACC cross country individual title holders from Notre Dame.

Another Irish men’s runner to take home some hardware was freshman Josh Methner, who earned ACC Freshman Runner of the Year honors for clocking the fastest time of any true freshman in the race. Methner finished 11th with a time of 23:30.1.

While Nuguse made headlines, the Irish men’s depth was on full display, as all five Irish scorers earned All-ACC status (top 21 finishers are named All-ACC). Dylan Jacobs produced a third-place finish (23:12.7) followed by Danny Kilrea in seventh (23:27.4), Methner in 11th (23:30.1) and Jake Renfree in 18th (23:37.6) to round out the scorers.

“Despite a unique fall our guys were able to come together and take another step forward for our program,” said head men’s cross country coach Sean Carlson. “We are happy to have the opportunity to be competing for championships again!”

Three other Notre Dame runners also impressed with top-30 finishes as Andrew Alexander placed 24th (23:46.4), Matthew Carmody 27th (23:49.9) and Kevin Salvano 29th (23:51.9) to give the Irish eight of the top 30 finishers.

The women’s side saw three runners earn All-ACC status. Leading the way for the Irish was senior Erin Archibeck, who finished 12th with a mark of 20:35.5. The other two Irish runners to join Archibeck as All-ACC honorees were Maddy Denner (17th – 20:37.8) and Olivia Markezich (21st – 20:42.0).

Erin Strzelecki (31st – 20:56.3) and Jessica Schneider (35th – 20:59.2) also scored points for Notre Dame. 

The Irish women have placed in the top five at the ACC Championships in six of the past seven seasons.

The NCAA Championships will be held in the spring, as Stillwater, Oklahoma, will host the event on March 15, 2021.