Irish finish in second place after Shay, Conway drop out of race
KATIE HUGHES
Sports Writer
It was the unexpected that showed what could be expected from the Irish for the rest of the season. Expect stepping up, expect responding to pressure, and expect some serious depth.
In Saturday's Pre-National Meet at the Furman cross country course in Greenville, S.C., the No. 5 Irish took second place behind No. 1 Colorado despite losing two top runners to illness.
All-American seniors Ryan Shay and Pat Conway, who had not been feeling well since last weekend's Notre Dame Invitational, both started the race, but became so ill that neither was able to finish.
"After about three and a half miles, I just started to hyperventilate," Shay said.
"Conway started coughing violently prior to the meet," said head coach Joe Piane.
With Shay and Conway out of the race, that meant all five remaining runners would count in the scoring for the Irish. Senior Luke Watson lead the Irish with a fourth-place finish at in 24:17 while senior Marc Striowski finished second for the Irish, taking 12th overall in 24:25, and sophomore Todd Mobley finished 14th in 24:46.
Senior Sean Zanderson and sophomore Mario Bird responded to the pressure of losing top runners, stepping up to finish 51st and 91st, respectively, fighting for places that put the Irish 12 points away from third place Air Force.
"The pace dropped during the second mile and strung out," Watson said. "It wasn't until the fourth mile [I knew] Pat and Ryan were most likely going to drop out, and we needed every place we could get."
Notre Dame scored 172 points, behind first-place Colorado's 62 point team total. Facing the strongest competition and largest field they have seen thus far, the Irish crushed any doubt that they are a threat to take the NCAA title this season.
"This meet shows that we have little more depth than people believed or realized," Piane said. "Mario Bird had never run in a meet of that size or quality."
"When all five guys are scoring, put under that pressure, it takes a lot to perform well," said Watson. "Responding to that pressure is something that has characterized this team, and that will help us win down the road."
Conway and Shay have two weeks to get better before the Big East Championships. And Colorado has a few more weeks to worry about what the Irish can do when two more All-Americans are scoring for the team.
"Our confidence for winning nationals just went up," Shay said.
"One of the big things we took away from this weekend is that no team is invincible," Watson said. " Colorado didn't look great, Stanford and Villanove are all beatable. If we run everyone there is not reason we can't win [NCAA's]."
All Sports Stories for Monday, October 15, 2001
