Oct. 8, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — After an exciting announcement this morning, graduate student Jeremy Rae (Fort Erie, Ont.) is proving that the Irish will have no problem making the jump to the Atlantic Coast Conference this year. It was announced this morning that Rae is the men’s ACC Cross Country Performer of the Week following his performance in the Notre Dame Invitational last Friday, Oct. 4.
Rae finished fifth overall in a field of 209 runners, completing the 5-mile course with a time of 24:33.9.
“The ACC is an incredibly competitive conference that often has the most national championship qualifiers of any conference in the country,” says Rae. “Therefore we’ve stepped up our miles and we’re training harder than ever to make sure we can compete with these teams. It’s nice to see the hard work pay off.”
Rae’s finish led the 22nd-ranked Irish to seventh place in the 27-team blue field competition. The hot and humid day led to a sloppy course, but Rae held his own among competition that included No. 9 Princeton, No. 21 New Mexico, No. 25 Virginia and No. 26 Florida State.
“It was a horrible day,” says head coach Joe Piane. “I thought he did a really incredible job. He did exactly what we asked him to do, which is to get in front of the group and just to let the guys sift through him. I think if he ran that race again he might even finish a few places higher. I was very impressed with his tenacity.”
Rae says that the honor goes to his team as well, who have been working just as hard early in the season. This is the graduate student’s last season as a runner, and he says his main goal is to stay healthy in hopes of winning the ACC Championships and being an All-American.
“I think he sees that he’s coming to the end,” Piane says. “This is his last cross country season, and he only has one indoor season left, so I think he wants to make this the best cross country season that he’s had or the team has had. He wants to get back to the NCAAs in cross country and in indoors, there’s no doubt about it. I see him more dedicated–and pushing the other guys–than I’ve ever seen before.”
–Lauren Chval, Media Relations Assistant
–ND–