For Immediate Release: October 12, 1999
Contact: Peggy Curtin - (219) 631-7516

Notre Dame Cross Country Prepares for Pre-National Meet at Indiana Saturday

Notre Dame, Ind. - - After a week off, the Notre Dame men's and women's
cross country teams will compete in the pre-national meet in Bloomington,
Ind., the site of this year's NCAA championships.  The 12th-ranked Notre
Dame women's team is coming off a win at the Notre Dame Invitational where
the Irish beat then 13th-ranked Missouri for the title with a combined
score of 57, 16 points  less than the second-place Tigers, who had 73. The
17th-ranked men's team had a strong showing against some of the top talent
in the nation at the Notre Dame Invite, finished third behind Michigan and
Georgetown, who tied for the meet title with a team score of 81.

This Weekend: Notre Dame will not be running in the Central Collegiates,
Friday, Oct. 15 as scheduled. Twelve runners from both the men's and
women's squads, however, will compete in the pre-national meet in
Bloomington, Ind. on Sat., Oct. 16 with seven of the 12 from each squad
running in the 'A' race and the remaining five competing in the 'B' race.
	On the men's side, junior Ryan Shay (Central Lake, Mich.), Luke
Watson (Stillwater, Minn.), Marc Striowski (Toronto, Ontario), John Dudley
(Westwood, Mass.), Sean McManus (Hernando, Fla.), Ryan Maxwell (Staten
Island, N.Y.) and Patrick Conway (Springfield, Va.) will compete in the A
race for the Irish. The men's A 8K race, which begins at 10 a.m., includes
15 teams, in addition to the Irish, in the top 25 of the latest NCAA Div. I
poll.
	The B race line-up for the Irish, which will run at noon, includes
Sean Zanderson (Poway, Calif.), Mike Greiwe (Tampa, Fla.), John Beck
(Torrington, Wyo.), Kevin Brown (San Jose, Calif.) and Antonio Lopez
(Albuquerque, N.M.).
	The women's line-ups were not available at press time, but should
include all of the team's top runners: Leanne Brady (Trumbull, Conn.),
JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), Kari Eaton (Wadsworth, Ohio), Jennifer
Handley (Barrie, Ontario), Alison Klemmer (Troy, Mich.), Chrissy Kuenster
(Wheaton, Ill.), Erin Luby (Inverness, Ill.), Cara Motter (Brawley,
Calif.), Erin Olson (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Bridget O'Brien (Bloomington,
Minn.), Patty Rice (Mishawaka, Ind.) and Muffy Schmidt (Miles City, Mont).
The women are set to compete in the A race, which includes 18 of the top 25
teams, at 11:15 a.m. and the B race begins at 12:45 p.m.

PRE-NATIONAL HISTORY: Last year, the men placed 12th of 32 teams at the
pre-national meet in Lawrence, Kan., and were led by then sophomore Ryan
Shay, who finished 17th. The women did not compete at the meet, running at
the Michigan Interregional in Ann Arbor, Mich., the next weekend.
	The Irish men have had success at the pre-national meet in years
past with former All-Americans John Coyle (1991 - 31:04) and Michael
McWilliams (1991 - 31:07) still holding the ninth and tenth fastest times
when the race was 10,000 meters.

IRISH MOVE UP IN THE POLLS: The women's team has steadily moved up the
national rankings in 1999. Ranked 22nd in the FinishLynx preseason poll,
the Irish moved up to 14th after winning the National Catholic
Championships. Following the Notre Dame Invitational, the women have moved
up to 12th in the nation and have stayed there the past two weeks.
	After having not been ranked in the preseason poll, the men made
their first appearance in the 20th slot following their third-place finish
at the Notre Dame Invitational, October 1. After the week break, the men
have since moved up to 17th nationally.

MONDO NCAA Div. I
Men's XC Poll (10/11)

Rank	School (First-Place)	Pts
1. 	Arkansas (16)		400
2. 	Stanford 			380
3.	North Carolina State	368
4. 	Wisconsin			348
5. 	Colorado			339
6.	Arizona			322
7.	BYU				289
8.	James Madison		280
9.	Northern Arizona		263
10.	Oregon			232
11.	Michigan			229
12.	Georgetown			225
13.	Weber State		224
14.	Providence			192
15.	Portland			166
16.	Princeton			161
17.	Notre Dame		127
18.	Dartmouth			115
19.	Arizona State		101
20.	Utah				94
21.      Tennessee                             63
22.      Iona College                           59
23-tie  William & Mary                       53
23-tie  South Florida                           53
25.	Southern Mississippi	  41


FinishLynx NCAA Div. I
Women's XC Poll (10/11)
Rank	School (First-Place)	Pts
1.	Stanford (12)		300
2. 	Arkansas			288
3.	BYU 				274
4.	Arizona State		262
5.	Wisconsin 			253
6.	Georgetown			235
7. 	Colorado			231
8.	Kansas State		215
9.	Villanova			201
10.	Washington			192
11.	North Carolina State	177
12.	Notre Dame		167
13.	Minnesota			163
14.	Missouri			139
15.	Arizona			124
16.       North Carolina         		111
17.       Michigan State            	103
18.       William & Mary	   	86
19.       Nebraska	 		71
20.       Providence              		61
21.       Baylor			57
22.       UCLA			55
23.       Northern Arizona		44.5
24.       Florida			28
25.         James Madison		25.5

Schedule
SEPTEMBER
11		Valparaiso Invitational  	       M 1st
		(Valparaiso, IN) 	       W 2nd
17		National Catholic Invitational
					       M 1st
					       W 1st
OCTOBER
1		Notre Dame Invitational
			       		       M 3rd
					        W 1st
16		Pre-National Championships
		(Bloomington, IN)	    10:00 a.m.

29		BIG EAST Championship
		(Bronx, NY)		    10:00 a.m.

NOVEMBER
13		NCAA Great Lakes Region
		(Terre Haute, IN)	    10:30 a.m.
22		NCAA Championships	    10:30 a.m.
		(Bloomington, IN)