November 1, 1996

Notre Dame Men's Cross Country Finishes Fourth At Big East Cross Country Championships; Women Place Fifth

Jason Rexing and Joanna Deeter Earn Second-Place Finishes

BOSTON, Mass. -- Heading into today's BIG EAST Cross Country Championships at Franklin Park, Irish men's cross country coach Joe Piane knew it would be close. Oh, how right he was.

In the closest finish in the history of the championship - five points separated the top four teams - Providence College won its second straight championship as the Friars scored a 76, led by Michael Connelly's fifth-place finish. The 11-time BIG EAST champions entered the race ranked ninth nationally. Georgetown, ranked 13th in this week's poll, was second with 79 points.

Brook Kintz won the five-mile race with a time of 23:49. St. John's, which is un-ranked, finished a surprising third as the Red Storm had a score of 80 by placing three runners in the top 10, including two top-five finishes by Chris Graff (fourth) and Christian Fogarazzo (fifth).

Notre Dame, third in last's year championship, finished fourth. The 12th-ranked Irish had three runners finish in the top 15 to earn all-BIG EAST honors. Jason Rexing was second, eight seconds behind Kintz with a time of 23:57.

Derek Seiling, a fifth-place finisher at the '95 championship, crossed the finish line in eighth with a time of 24:06.

Matt Altoff, who earned All-America honors at last season's NCAA championship, was 11th with a time of 24:13. Sophomore Tim Englehardt ran one of his best races of the season as he was the fourth Irish runner to cross the finish line with a 30th-place finish (24:44). Joe Dunlop was the fifth scoring Irish runner as he placed 32nd with a time of 24:52.

"We came into this championship believing that we had a good chance to win," Piane said. "We're disappointed that we didn't win, because it was one of our goals this season. Jason, Derek and Matt all ran strong races. I was very pleased with the way Tim Englehardt ran."

The Irish women improved on their seventh-place finish a year ago as the 22nd-ranked Notre Dame squad finished fifth with a total of 123.

The Irish were led by two freshmen, Joanna Deeter and Nicole LaSelle. Deeter finished a surprising second in the 5,000 meter in her first BIG EAST test as she finished second to two-time champion Marie McMahon. McMahon won the race with a time of 16:36, while Deeter, who made up considerable distance at the end of the race, was second in 16:41. She and LaSelle earned all-BIG EAST honors as LaSelle finished 10th with a time of 17:16.

No.1-ranked and defending NCAA champion Providence College won its second straight BIG EAST title with a team score of 47. Georgetown, ranked seventh nationally, was second with a team total of 58, followed by Villanova (72) and Boston College (103). The Wildcats were second in this week's national poll, while the Eagles were the fifth BIG EAST team to earn a ranking at number 12.

"We've got a very young team," head women's coach Tim Connelly said, "but we were up to the challenges today. We just keep getting better. Realistically, our goal this season was to finish in the top five and we did that. It's a real confidence-booster for our program to go up against so many good runners at this meet and have two freshmen finish in the top 10."

Mieki Walsh finished 32nd with a time of 18:02 as she was the third Irish runner to cross the finish line. Kelly Peterson was 38th with a time of 18:11. The fifth runner to score for Notre Dame was another freshman, Erin Luby, who was 51st overall with a time of 18:42.

Both teams return to action in two weeks on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the District IV Championships in Champaign, Ill.