Cross Country

Notre Dame Welcomes ACC XC Championships on Friday

Live Results: https://theacc.co/2021ACCs
ACC Championships Page: https://theacc.co/ACCXCChamps
ACC Cross Country Release: https://theacc.co/ACCxcr2021
USTFCCCA rankings: http://www.ustfccca.org/team-rankings-polls-central
National Meet Results: https://www.tfrrs.org/

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (theACC.com) -- Notre Dame will play host to the Atlantic Coast Conference Cross County Championships on Friday, October 29. The Women’s Championship is set for a 10:10 a.m. start, followed by the Men’s Championship at 11 a.m. ACC Network plans live coverage of both meets, beginning with the Packer and Durham morning show originating live from the Championships site from 7-10 a.m. Show co-host Mark Packer is scheduled to ride as a passenger in the lead cart during race action.

• The NC State women, currently ranked No. 2 nationally, will be seeking their sixth straight ACC Championship. The Wolfpack owns 26 total ACC titles in women’s cross country, the most by any league school in any women's sport.

• Host Notre Dame will enter the Men’s Championship as defending champion and seeks its third ACC title in four years. Syracuse has won six ACC men’s cross country titles since joining the conference in 2013, including five straight from 2013-17.

• The No. 2 NC State women lead five ACC teams among the current USTFCCCA top 30. The Wolfpack is joined by No. 10 Florida State, No. 13 North Carolina, No. 16 Syracuse and No. 21 Notre Dame. Florida State moved up five spots into top-10 following a strong showing at the recent Pre-Nationals in Tallahassee, and Syracuse leapt from the “receiving votes” category to the middle of the women’s national poll after placing above 10 ranked teams en route to a seventh-place finish at the prestigious Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin.

• No. 8 Notre Dame leads ACC teams in the USTFCCCA men’s national rankings, followed by No. 19 Florida State.

• Three ACC runners have earned National Athlete of the Week recognition from the USTFCCCA during the current season. Florida State senior Adriaan Wildschutt earned the men’s honor following opening weekend in September and again on Oct. 4. Boston College grad student Lauren White took women’s honors following her first-place finish at the New England Championships on Oct. 9.

• This will mark the first time Notre Dame has played host to the ACC Cross Country Championships. The Fighting Irish were originally set to host the 2020 Championships, but issues related to COVID-19 forced adjustments to the ACC’s Olympic Sports Championship schedules.

• Both reigning ACC team champions return a strong nucleus from last season, which saw the Notre Dame men place 14 points ahead of the field and the NC State women roll to a 52-point win. 2020 men’s gold medalist Yared Nuguse ran a winning time of 23:03.6 to lead a balanced showing by the Fighting Irish men, while women’s winner Dominique Clairmonte’s time of 19:55.1 for the Wolfpack placed her 11 seconds in front of the rest of the field.

• Both ACC championship teams went on to place second in last season’s NCAA Championships, which were held last March. The second-place finish is the best for Notre Dame since the 1957 team claimed the NCAA title. NC State’s women posted their highest finish since 2001 while placing among the top 10 in the NCAA women’s cross country field for the 15th time. FSU’s Wildschutt claimed the men’s silver medal, the highest for an ACC runner in at the NCAA Men’s Division I Cross Country finals since Syracuse’s Justyn Knight posted the league’s only first-place finish to date in 2017.

• The top 21 men’s and women’s finishers at the ACC Championships will earn All-ACC recognition. The first true freshman to cross the finish line in the men’s and women’s races will be recognized as ACC Freshmen of the Year. ACC Runners of the Year and Coaches of the Year will be determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches next month following completion of the NCAA Championships.

• NC State leads all schools with a total of 42 ACC cross country championships – 16 men’s and 26 women’s. Hall of Fame coach Rollie Geiger owns 34 titles (15 men’s, 19 women’s) to rank as the all-time leader. Laurie Henes has coached the Wolfpack to six women's championships, including the last five in succession. 

• North Carolina ranks second among ACC men’s programs with nine team titles. Florida State’s women claimed team championships seven straight seasons (2007 through 2013). 

Also of note ...

• The four ACC Men's Cross Country Performer of the Week honors earned by Florida State's Adriaan Wildshutt this season are a school record, and his six ACC weekly career cross country honors are tied for the most in school history. 

•  The ACC will close the season in the spotlight on Nov. 20, when Florida State will host the 2021 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships. It will be the second DI NCAA National Championship hosted by FSU and the first since the 1996 women’s tennis national championships. It will mark the fifth time that the NCAA Cross Country Championships have been hosted by a current ACC school and the first since Louisville welcomed the event in 2017.