Nov. 24, 2008
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s cross country team finished 19th at the 2008 NCAA Championships behind the 10th-place finish of senior Patrick Smyth.
Smyth earned his third cross country All-America honor with a time of 29:48.
Sophomore Dan Jackson was the second Irish runner to cross the line in 74th in 30:52, with junior Jake Walker close behind in 76th at 30:53. Freshman Joe Miller finished 134th in 31:26 and senior Daniel Clark was 152nd with a time of 31:37. Sophomore Ryan Jacobs crossed the line in 32:14 to finish 185th and sophomore Paul Springer finished 189th in 32:23.
Oregon took the men’s team title with 93 points behind Galen Rupp’s first-place finish. Iona was second with 147 points and Stanford finished third with 227. Notre Dame was 19th with 446 points.
Rupp finished with a time of 29:04.
The Irish women finished 29th after making their first NCAA appearance since 2005.
Junior Lindsey Ferguson finished 99th with a time of 21:24. Sophomore Marissa Treece was 122nd in 21:38 and senior Heidi Rocha was 129th in 21:42. Freshman Rachel Velarde clocked in at 21:42 to finish 155th, while senior Becca Bauman was 184th in 22:15. Sophomore Abby Higgins crossed the line in 22:32 to finish 193rd, and junior Beth Tacl finished 204th in 22:53.
Washington was the top team finisher with 79 points. Oregon was second with 131 and Florida State was third with 163. Notre Dame earned 689 points.
Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego won the women’s individual title in 19:29.
–ND–