Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 AUGUST 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED — including from political figures Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton — as well as its share of criticism. 7. WNBA DRAFT MARK On April 10, all five Notre Dame starters were selected among the first 19 picks in the three-round WNBA Draft. Junior guard Jackie Young was se- lected No. 1 overall by the Las Ve- gas Aces. That made her the second Fighting Irish player in the last five years to be the top pick, joining Jew- ell Loyd, who also was a junior when she was chosen in 2015. Next up were guard Arike Ogun- bowale (No. 5 by the Dallas Wings), forward Brianna Turner (No. 11, At- lanta), forward Jessica Shepard (No. 16, Minnesota) and guard Marina Mabrey (No. 19, Los Angeles). Overall, this quintet totaled 10,230 career points, the most ever by a starting group together — male or female — in NCAA history. The breakdown was Ogunbowale (2,626), Shepard (2,340, with 1,228 in two sea- sons at Notre Dame after first star- ring at Nebraska), Turner (2,017), Mabrey (1,896) and Young (1,351). Under the late Pat Summitt, Ten- nessee was the first school to have five players drafted in the same sea- son. Per USA Today, that occurred in 2008 when Candace Parker was taken first, Alexis Hornbuckle at No. 4, Shannon Bobbitt at No. 15, Nicky Anosike at No. 16 and Alberta Au- guste at No. 35. 8. GROWING PAINS ON A HURTING UNIT While the women's basketball program thrived with its experience, the men had their youngest squad ever in Mike Brey's first 19 seasons with five freshmen plus 6-11 Con- necticut transfer Juwan Durham. The season began to unravel quickly when one captain, senior forward Elijah Burns, left the pro- gram in November to transfer to Si- ena. Another captain, Rex Pflueger, who propelled the 88-80 upset of Purdue (which would advance to the Elite Eight) Dec. 15, was lost late in that same contest with a torn ACL. Guard Robby Carmody, the first Irish freshman to start an opener in 16 years, also was medically red- shirted in December because of a torn labrum, and Durham was never quite the same after a knee injury in the conference opener at Virginia Tech Jan. 1. It marked the second straight year Brey and Co. were badly bit- ten by the injury bug. A year earlier, All-American Bonzie Colson was sidelined two months, point guard Matt Farrell struggled with an an- kle injury and freshman forward D.J. Harvey, the highest-rated high school player in the rookie class, was shelved in January before un- dergoing microfracture surgery. Harvey returned this year, but conditioning woes from the injury and a lack of "fit" into the overall team scheme resulted in him trans- ferring to Vanderbilt. Two years ago, Brey was the cel- ebrated coach while Brian Kelly was at the crossroads. Suddenly, the roles have become reversed. 9. UNPRECEDENTED STAYING POWER This year with 10th-year head coach Brian Kelly and 20th-year head coach Mike Brey will mark the first time Notre Dame has ever had such continuity at the two most visible coaching positions in the depart- 2018-19 Male Athlete Of The Year: YARED NUGUSE Six years ago at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Ky., freshman Yared Nuguse's concen- tration was solely on academics. However, one day during a gym class the bliss- ful Nuguse so dominated classmates in race events that the Rams track coach extended a plea to him to join his team. By October of Nuguse's senior year, Notre Dame invited him for a football weekend recruiting trip. "I didn't even know where Notre Dame was," recalled Nuguse, now a Fighting Irish junior who is studying biochemistry, with aspirations for a career in dentistry. "I didn't have a whole lot of information. After that [visit], I was totally attracted to this place." Running cross country in the fall, indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring, Nuguse was part of two national titles during his sophomore season. On Oct. 26, Nuguse's third-place finish — the best on the team in the eight-kilometer race (23.48.8) — helped Notre Dame capture its first-ever ACC cross country championship. A couple of weeks later in the 10K (30:35.80) at the NCAA Championship, he helped the Irish place 14th nationally. On March 8 at the NCAA Indoor Champion- ships at Birmingham, Ala., Nuguse was the an- chor of the Fighting Irish distance medley team — comprised of freshman Dylan Jacobs (1,200 meters), senior Edward Cheatham (400 meters), sophomore Samuel Voelz (800 meters) and Nuguse (1,600 meters) — that won the national title. When Nuguse took the baton on the final relay, the Fighting Irish were in sixth place, but his scorching split of 3:56:03 secured the championship. On June 7 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas, Nuguse made an epic comeback over the final 100-250 meters. He surged in the closing steps and perfectly timed a lean past Michigan State's Justine Kiprotich to win the 1,500 meters by three-thousandths of a second (3:41.381 to 3:41.384). In addition to Nuguse becoming the school's first NCAA outdoor champion in track since Ryan Shay in 2001 (10,000 meters), he was Notre Dame's first NCAA champion in the 1,500 or mile since Charles Judge won the mile in 1926. Fellow sophomore and fencer Nick Itkin also merited strong consideration following a second straight individual national title in foil, but two different national championships in one year while competing in the fall, winter and spring is a unique feat. Look for Itkin to one day be recognized for "Lifetime Achievement." — Lou Somogyi Nuguse won an NCAA title in the 1,500 meters in June and was part of the distance medley relay team that placed first nationally during the indoor season. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA