Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 12, 2024 49 BY TODD D. BURLAGE D espite the fact that almost two cal- endar years have passed since the unexpected happened, grad student Carter Solomon still marvels at the re- markable transformation he enjoyed just before his junior year in 2022. The Irish distance runner admits that during his sophomore cross country sea- son in 2021, his personal goals were about as modest as they could possibly get. "I was doing all I could just to stay on top of my schoolwork and to stay rel- evant on the team," said Solomon, adding that as an aerospace engineering major, the student-athlete balance wasn't easy. "I was just doing my best to be able to travel with the team and have fun with my teammates. That was about it." Two individual ACC titles later, Solo- mon isn't too worried about staying rel- evant anymore. Instead, he's working to- ward a third ACC individual title, and the first cross country league championship for the Fighting Irish team since 2021. "How did this happen? How did I get here?" Solomon said of his second- to third-year performance jump. "I was just running along, doing school, and all of a sudden I started running at an elite NCAA level. I was kind of shocked. I was really shocked, actually." For evidence into how dramatic Solo- mon's performance jump was between his second and third years competing at Notre Dame, look no further than the ACC Cross Country Championships. In the 8K event in 2021, Solomon fin- ished last among the 10 Irish runners and 69th overall in the conference race with a time of 24:54.8. Twelve months later as an academic junior at the 2022 ACC Championships, Solomon shaved nearly two minutes off of his time and took home the individual title in 22:55.9. Not finished yet, in May 2023 Solomon claimed the individual 10,000-meter ti- tle at the ACC Outdoor Championships. "One day I'm just trying to hold my place on the team, and all of a sudden, a couple of ACC titles trickled in," the Canton, Mich., native said. "It still sur- prises me, thinking about it again. It's still crazy to think about." Staying healthy, becoming more con- fident and comfortable in his routine, natural maturation, Solomon listed all of these among a variety of factors that contributed to his seemingly overnight improvement. But one development in particular stands out to him. The Notre Dame cross country program went through a surprising shakeup in June 2022, when coach Sean Carlson unex- pectedly left for the top job at Tennessee. With the 2022 cross country sea- son coming fast, Notre Dame director of track & field and cross country Matt Sparks decided on Chris Neal from Fur- man to fill the position. Neal's hire was a program-changing addition to the team. "Chris Neal is perfect for the job. And he brought new life to the program," Solomon said. "His ability to have re- lationships outside of just X's and O's is what makes him a great coach. "When you know that he truly believes in what he's doing, and passes that along to his athletes, that instills a confidence that has been game-changing." Healthy and ready as this cross country season moves toward its marquee meets, Solomon ran the first race of his season in the National Catholic Invitational at Notre Dame Sept. 20, and won it convinc- ingly in 23:40.5 to help the No. 7 Irish to the team title. Following Solomon's lead, Notre Dame took the top four spots and placed all seven runners in the top 10. "Carter is respected by everyone on the team," Sparks said. "He has the abil- ity to connect with the graduate trans- fers as well as the freshmen. Carter's presence in the locker room and on the course instills confidence to everyone involved in the program." For Notre Dame, an ACC champion- ship and a top-five national finish are both attainable goals. "We're hoping for a little bit better luck this year — sometimes that's what it takes," Solomon said. "We certainly have big goals, and there is no reason to think we can't accomplish all of those. The fire- power is there, and Coach Neal will have us ready to go when we need to be." ✦ Cross Country Standout Carter Solomon Is Chasing Championships N O T R E D A M E S P O R T S After finishing 69th at the ACC Cross Country Championships in 2021, Solomon won the next two individual ACC titles. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS IRISH ROUNDUP CROSS COUNTRY Both the Irish men and women dominated en route to placing first in the 45th National Catholic Invitational Sept. 20 at South Bend … The women notched a perfect score of 15, while the men posted 16. MEN'S GOLF Placed first with a 17-under-par 847 in the Canadian Collegiate Invitational Sept. 16-17 in Mactier, Ontario. WOMEN'S GOLF Finished ninth with a 30-over 894 in the Mary Fossum Invitational Sept. 22-23 in East Lansing, Mich. MEN'S SOCCER (3-1-3 OVERALL, 1-1-0 ACC) Picked up a pair of wins at Alumni Stadium, defeating Chicago State 6-1 Sept. 20 and De- troit Mercy 3-1 Sept. 24. WOMEN'S SOCCER (7-1-2 OVERALL, 1-0-1 ACC) Notched their first ACC victory with a 1-0 triumph at Virginia Sept. 22 … Tied North Caro- lina State 2-2 Sept. 26 at Alumni Stadium. VOLLEYBALL (7-2 OVERALL, 0-0 ACC) Split a home-and-home with Indiana, win- ning 3-0 in South Bend Sept. 20 and falling 3-1 to the Hoosiers Sept. 22 in Bloomington, Ind.