I am writing a letter in light of the recent publication of the 2006 "Dome" yearbook. As a member of the men's cross country team, I feel I can speak for my teammates as well as the entire women's cross country team in saying how extremely disappointed I am that the yearbook staff forgot to include us in this year's publication.
Now I know that most likely the only people who noticed this oversight are the members of each respective team. Some might even be thinking, "we have a cross country team?" Things like that I'm fine with. After all, those that run cross country have never been into the sport for the glitz and glamour nor fame and fortune. These perks are reserved for other sports. But what I'm not fine with is the lack of including the men's and women's cross country teams in the yearbook - especially when the yearbook is supposed to recognize all the accomplishments and great moments that have happened in the past year at Our Lady's University. Both teams have been responsible for some great achievements for the University. Along with the Big East Championships on both ends, the men placed third and the women seventh at the NCAA Championships. Each team also had three All-Americans. On top of that, the men's team currently has the highest point total (85) of any other team at Notre Dame this year for the NACDA Directors' Cup (formerly the Sears Cup - an annual award that goes to the best all-around college sports program in each division).
As a sport that rarely gets recognized, the "Dome" yearbook is one of the few things we can count on for being honored. But it's not even the recognition we are yearning for. What we really want is to have this yearbook and be able to turn to our section in the future and appreciate the time we spent at Notre Dame. Unfortunately the "Dome" yearbook has forever deprived us of this ability.
So I ask Editor-in-Chief Moira Madden and Sports Editor Mike Kim simply, how did this oversight occur? Every year in the past the yearbook has managed to include a section for both men's and women's cross country. I hope as a staff you have learned from this mistake and will ensure that it never happens again to anyone.
A.J. AndrassyseniorOff-Campus May 2
