Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Irish prepare for National Catholic Invitational

Notre Dame will host its first event this season this weekend as it invites schools to campus for the 40th annual National Catholic Invitational at Burke Golf Course. The tournament marks the first regular-season competition of the 2018-19 campaign for both the men’s and women’s team.

1536794255-899434c77d98cab-606x700
Anna Mason
Irish junior Dustin Macuiba runs during the National Catholic Invitational on Sept. 15, 2017 at Burke Golf Course.


The women’s team will seek to continue a streak of dominance at the Invitational that stretches more than a decade. The women are looking for their 12-consecutive win in the 5,000-meter varsity race. For both of the past two years, senior Annie Heffernan has been the individual winner of the women’s varsity race with a time of 17:29.4 at last year’s meet and 17:22.1 the previous season.

The men’s team will look to bounce back from a disappointing past two years in which they failed to win the 8,000-meter varsity race. Last year, the Irish lost by three points to Dayton in what was a very close-fought battle for first place, and Saint Louis University took home the win in 2016. All eyes will be on sophomore Yared Nuguse who finished second overall as a freshman in last year’s meet. The Irish have won this meet in eight of the last 12 seasons.

The meet will begin at 3:30 p.m. with open division races for men and women. Then, at 4:15 p.m. the women’s 5,000-meter championship race will take place, followed by the men’s 5-mile championship race.