For Immediate Release: October 18, 1999
Contact: Peggy Curtin - (219) 631-7516

Notre Dame Men's Cross Country Boasts Impressive Finish at Pre-National Event

Notre Dame, Ind. - - The 10th-ranked Notre Dame men's cross country team
finished sixth at the Pre-National NCAA meet on the Indiana University
Cross Country Course in Bloomington, Ind. October 16th. The impressive
finish pushed the Irish up two spots in the MONDO NCAA division I men's
cross country poll. The women were affected by the absence of top-runner
and senior All-American JoAnna Deeter and finished 22nd out of 33 teams.

PRE-NATIONAL NCAA RECAP:  The men's team defeated some of the top teams in
the nation at the Pre-National meet. BYU (seventh) and Northern Arizona
(eighth) were ranked in the top 10 above the Irish before the meet but
finished behind Notre Dame in the men's "A" race.
	Once again the men's team was paced by junior Ryan Shay (Central
Lake, Mich.). Shay finished fourth with a time of 24:12.79, just six
seconds behind Steve Fein of Oregon in first place. Sophomore Luke Watson
(Stillwater, Minn.) continued his impressive second season with the Irish
with a 22nd finish in a time of 24:40.90. Another sophomore, Marc Striowski
(Toronto, Ont.), was the next Irish runner across the finish line in 68th
place and a time of 25:20.80. Seniors Sean McManus (Hernando, Fla.) (75th)
and Ryan Maxwell (Staten Island, N.Y.) (87th) were the other scoring
runners for the Irish. Notre Dame's team total of 249 finished behind
Stanford (126), Colorado (140), Arizona (186), Georgetown (194) and Arizona
State (248).
	The women's team had a disappointing performance without
All-American JoAnna Deeter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) who did not run due to a
sprained ankle. Senior Alison Klemmer (Troy, Mich.) was the top Irish
runner, finishing in 44th place with a time of 18:07.97, a minute behind
first place runner Kara Wheeler of Colorado. Other scoring runners for the
Irish were senior Patti Rice (Mishawaka, Ind.) (92nd), freshman Jennifer
Handley (Barrie, Ont.) (124th), junior Erin Olson (Eden Prarie, Minn.)
(138th), and senior Erin Luby (Inverness, Ill.) (142nd).  The poor finish
knocked the Irish out of the FinishLynx top 25 for the first time this
season.

IRISH MOVE UP IN THE POLLS: The men made their first appearance in the top
twenty after their third place finish in the Notre Dame Invitational
October 1.  After having not been ranked in the preseason MONDO NCAA poll,
the Irish moved up from 17th to 10th following the Pre-National meet last
weekend.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE: Both varsity teams have a week off before travelling to
Manhattan,N.Y. for the BIG EAST Championships Friday, October 29.

MONDO NCAA Div. I
Men's Cross Country
 Poll (10/19)

(Conducted by the United States
Cross Country Coaches Association)

Rank	School (First-Place)		Pts
1.	Arkansas (15)		399
2.	Stanford (1)		381
3.	North Carolina St.		368
4.	Colorado			351
5.	Wisconsin			339
6.	Arizona			321
7.	Georgetown		299
8.	Michigan			281
9.	Arizona State		268
10.	Notre Dame		254
11. 	James Madison		232
12.	Oregon			228
13.	BYU			209
14.	Villanova			173
15.	Utah			169
16.	Northern Arizona		167
17.	Weber State		126
18.	Princeton			120
19.	William & Mary		116
20. 	Portland			91

FINISHLYNX NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY POLL
Conducted by the Women's Cross Country Coaches Association
ranking	team (first place votes)		points
1.	Stanford	(12)			300
2.	Arkansas				288
3.	BYU				276
4.	Colorado				262
5.	Wisconsin				254
6.	North Carolina			237
7.	Kansas State			226
8.	Georgetown			210
9.	Washington			206
10.	North Carolina State			192
11.	Arizona State			189
12.	William & Mary			168
13.	Boston University			156
14.	UCLA				141
15.	Baylor				132
16.	Texas				116
17.	Minnesota				109
18.	Michigan State			93
19.	Wake Forest			79
20.	Northern Arizona			62

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)
					       M 6th
					       W 22nd

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)