Injury-plagued mens squad runs to 8th place
By JOE LINDSLEY
Sports Writer
If the Notre Dame mens cross country team receives an at-large bid to NCAA Championships, they will have qualified by a hair's breadth.
The Irish are hoping for that bid to materialize today, not only for obvious reasons, but also to give them just one more shot at proving their worth, something the team feels they have not done all season.
Heading into the Saturday's Great Lakes Regional — the qualifier for the national meet — the Irish knew they would have to finish in at least eighth place to make a case for an at-large berth in the national championships.
Notre Dame finished in eighth place, after losing a tiebreaker to Michigan State.
The Irish will not know if they have qualified until this afternoon, but the team is fairly confident they will go to nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. next Monday.
"We're probably going to be the last team in," junior Todd Mobley said. "It's a little close for comfort."
Mobley, the team's top overall performer, ran his first race Saturday since an injury several weeks ago that kept him out of the Big East Championships. The 2001 All American, not yet in top form, finished in 26th place with a 10K time of 31 minutes, 22 seconds.
Freshman Tim Moore, running his first competitive 10K in 30:57.1, led the team with his 14th place finish.
"I'm happy with how I ran," Moore said. "It wasn't what I would call just a completely awesome race, but I felt really comfortable and confident for the first 9K. The last [kilometer] I kind of broke down, but it's just a matter of working with experience and changing my mentality over that last kilometer."
Mobley took care not to re-injure himself in his return.
"I played it a little cautious," Mobley said. "I went out a little slow and moved up the entire race. The next time I run, I'll probably run with a little more abandon. It's just a matter of getting my legs back under me and getting used to running. My mileage has been pretty low."
According to Moore, the team would have fared much better had Mobley been in normal form.
"[Mobley] has been battling with injuries," Moore said. "I know that when Todd is on the top of the team, he would beat me. If he were at the top of his game, he would definitely be a top 10 guy. That would have helped us out a lot."
Still, the Irish are perplexed at their recent performances, including their fourth place finish at the Big East Championships two weeks ago.
"We haven't performed near to what we are capable of — all season," Moore said. "I don't know what it is. It's not that we aren't running hard. It's not that the guys aren't doing what they can. From our workouts, we know that we're in much better shape than we've shown."
Moore said that the team's performance has been an enigma to them.
"It's kind of a mystery to us," he said. "We've been working out really well. We've got a lot of good work under our belt. It might be something mental. I think we can fix that."
Mobley and Moore were followed by junior David Alber, who finished in 42nd place, and sophomore Ryan Johnson, who finished in 54th. Junior Brian Kerwin, sophomore Eric Morrison, and senior John Keane came in 72nd, 77th, and 109th, respectively.
All Sports Stories for Monday, November 18, 2002
