Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS BY DOUGLAS FARMER M att Sparks didn't know what to expect when he first met with the Notre Dame men's cross country team in August. He was hired from Southern Illinois to be the cross country associ- ate head coach — technically working under Alan Turner, though largely in charge of the entire Irish distance pro- gram. Sparks didn't get to meet his charges until less than two weeks be- fore their first meet, the Crusader Open hosted by Valparaiso. Notre Dame finished first in that Sept. 5 race, but Sparks needed another month before he started to have an idea of the capabilities of his team. From day one, however, he saw evidence of its dedication. "They didn't know who their coach was going to be until the middle of Au- gust," Sparks said. "It would have been easy for them to have backed off their summer training and come in with a lit- tle bit of a negative attitude. That wasn't the case at all." Sparks slowly learned how each run- ner functioned best and what buttons to push when, leading the Irish to a sec- ond-place finish in the National Catholic Championships Sept. 19 and a seventh- place finish in the ACC Championships Oct. 31, before finishing sixth in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Champi- onships Nov. 14. That sixth-place fin- ish was not enough to get the Irish to New Coach Sparks Men's Cross Country Team Junior Michael Clevenger finished sixth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Nov. 14, earning all- region honors and an individual bid to the NCAA Championships Nov. 22. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS