October 7, 1998

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame men’s and women’s cross country teams faced stiff competition this past weekend at the 43rd annual adidas/Notre Dame Invitational and performed extremely well as the men came away with a second-place finish while the women placed fifth.

Fourth-ranked North Carolina State cruised to victory in the men’s division, finishing with 41 points with the Irish a distant second with 90 points. Duke was third with 105 points. Notre Dame sophomore Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.) once again turned in a superb performance for the Irish as he finished second with a time of 23:21.

Shay’s finish marked the highest finish for a Notre Dame runner in the adidas/Notre Dame Invitational since Irish All-American Mike McWilliams also finished second in 1993. North Carolina State also won the women’s division as the Wolfpack finished with 50 points.

Baylor, Bowling Green and Clemson also finished ahead of Notre Dame as the Irish finished with 181 points. Junior JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) once again made history as she became the first woman ever to win two adidas/Notre Dame Invitational individual championships. Deeter edged out Baylor’s Sherri Smith by four seconds as she ran to a time of 16:50.

The Notre Dame-B team also won the gold men’s race by beating Taylor University. Junior Sean McManus was the top finisher with a sixth-place finish.

National Catholic Championships Recap: On the men’s side, Notre Dame placed three in the top 20 and six in the top 40. Senior Antonio Arce (Palmdale, Calif.) came close to breaking into the top ten as he placed 13th with a time of 23:45. This was the first time this year that Arce failed to finish in the top ten. Freshman Luke Watson (Stillwater, Minn.) continued to run well as he turned in his third top 20 finish in as many races. His time of 23:53 was good enough for a 19th-place finish and was over 30 seconds faster than his time at the National Catholic Cross Country Championships.

Senior Ryan Maxwell (Staten, Island, N.Y.) also knocked off 30 seconds of his National Catholic time as he finished 22nd with a time of 23:56, while his fellow senior Tim Engelhardt (East Syracuse, N.Y.) placed 34th with a time of 24:14.

The men also enjoyed some success in the gold men’s division of the competition as the Notre Dame-B squad captured first place with 59 points. Juniors Sean McManus (Hernando, Fla.) and John Dudley (Westwood, Mass.) turned in top ten finishes as they placed sixth and seventh with times of 24:41 and 24:46 respectively. Freshman Patrick Conway (Springfield, Va.) turned in a good performance as he placed 12th with a time of 24:51.

On the women’s side, junior Patti Rice (Mishawaka, Ind.) was the only other Irish runner in the top 25 as she placed 22nd with a time of 17:37. Junior Alison Klemmer (Troy, Mich.) placed 33rd with a time of 17:55, and sophomore Erin Olson (Eden Prarie, Minn.) continued to improve as she finished 62nd with a time of 18:18. Sophomore Bridget O’Brien (Bloomington, Minn.) was right on Olson’s heels as she finished 63rd with a time of 18:20, while Erin Luby (Inverness, Ill.) rounded out the Irish top five runners with a 66th-place finish and a time of 18:24.

The Irish women excelled in the junior varsity division as well as they placed four runners in the top ten. Sophomore Leanne Brady (Trumbell, Conn.) was the first Irish runner to finish as she came home in fourth place with a time of 18:24. Freshman Kristin Wunder (Cicero, Indiana) finished sixth with a time of 18:41; junior Anna Yates (East Wilton, Maine) captured seventh with a time of 18:43, and freshman Hilary Burn (Ottawa, Ont.) took home a ninth-place finish as she ran to a time of 18:50.

Bob Timmons Invitational: Notre Dame’s men’s cross country team will travel to Lawrence, Kan. to compete in the Bob Timmons Invitational Cross Country meet on Sat., Oct. 10. The men’s Division I race will begin at 11:00 a.m. This meet is an NCAA pre-national invitational meet and will be run on the same course which will host the 1998 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The 15th-ranked Irish will compete against 20 other ranked teams, including number top-ranked Stanford, #3 Colorado and #4 North Carolina State, which defeated the Irish at the adidas/Notre Dame Invitational just last Friday.