Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND Sports bolster the offense this season after each earned honorable mention AllAmerica notice from the AVCA last fall. Houser moves from an outside hitter to the middle of the Irish formation this season to provide more power. Notre Dame lost to 14th-seeded Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2012. The Irish were in the "receiving votes" category of the first top-25 poll to start the 2013 season. They'll play No. 16 Purdue, No. 18 Florida State and No. 20 Kansas during the regular season this year. Cross Country Notre Dame's men and women both ranked among the top 30 teams at the end of the 2012 season. They return more than enough talent this fall to stay in that range. The women ended last season with a 15th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Three of the top five Irish finishers in that race — junior Gabby Gonzales, senior Alexa Aragon and senior Kelly Curran — are back as upperclassmen this year. Gonzales was a top-five finisher at the National Catholic Championship in South Bend and took 21st place at the Big East race. The top competition for Notre Dame this season in conference will be Florida State, a team that has won five straight ACC titles. Fifth-year senior Jeremy Rae leads the men's team. An All-American on the track, Rae missed his freshman season in cross country and has one more year of eligibility to run for the Irish. He finished 12th overall at the Fifth-year senior Jeremy Rae, who placed 12th at the Big East Championships last year, will lead the way for the Irish in their first year of competition in the ACC. photo courtesy notre dame media relations Big East Championships last year. He's joined by senior Martin Grady, who finished 52nd at the NCAA Championships race to lead the Irish to a 28th-place finish as a team. ACC opponents Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and NC State all finished ahead of Notre Dame in the national rankings last season. ✦