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September 15, 2006 South Bend, ID – John Riak ran one of his best races of the year Friday to win the National Catholic Championships at Notre Dame University. Riak finished with a time of 24:38, beating out nearly 300 runners from 31 schools including Division I Xavier, Marquette and host Notre Dame. Riak is just the third College Division runner to win the men’s individual title and the first since 1995. After the first mile Riak was in the top ten. The second mile saw him slide into the top three where he would stay until the final stretch. Riak was patient and waited for the right time to make his move. When he came around the last corner he turned it on and kicked away to take the lead and the win. “He ran a fantastic race. We talked about a race plan, about waiting until the right moment and he did exactly that,” said an enthusiastic head coach Julie Sullivan. Notre Dame took the men’s team title for the 16th time in the last 19 years. Because of a tie on the women’s side Notre Dame and Marquette University were declared co-champions, making it the first shared title in the history of the National Catholic Championship. The men’s team as a whole finished 15th overall, with strong finishes from Niwar Nasim (81st), Robbie Wilbur (110th), Steven La Londe (113th), and Tristan Beech (123rd). The women faired extremely well also finishing 18th as a team. Amy Layton led the Saints in 65th place followed by Jessie Dunnam (85th), Taylor Shipman (106th), Jessica Pendon (159th), and Krinda Carlson (165th). Both the men’s and women’s teams finished sixth among the Division II schools. The Saints next meet will be at home when they host the SMU Invite on September 23rd.
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