DYLAN’S DEAL
Sandburg grad Jacobs helps Notre Dame navigate speed bumps as nation’s No. 1 team
Dylan Jacobs knows the deal. The Notre Dame men’s cross country team could be stacked enough towin the national title.
That will have to wait for Jacobs, a Sandburg graduate, and his teammates. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA plans to move the national meet to March 15, 2021.
There are no guarantees.
So a loaded Fighting Irish team featuring Jacobs will make the Atlantic Coast Conference Meet on Oct. 30 in Cary, North Carolina their biggest race of the season.
“We are100% treating this as if it were anational championship,” Jacobs said. “Last year, we lost in the ACC even though we were favored going in. There are a lot of great teams, and unfortunately, we finished in second.
“But we’re definitely geared up and we know they are all geared up, too.”
Notre Dame will be a targeted team as the Irish are ranked No. 1 in the nation in the latest Boost Treadmill poll.
“We have a great team and the rankings have shown that,” Jacobs said. “We need to show it on the course before we can talk about rankings. That’s what we’re focused on.”
The sample size of Notre Dame’s focus has been small but impressive. The Irish have been on the course for only one competition. The next time will be the ACC Meet.
Notre Dame’s first meet of the season was on Sept. 19, and Irish coach Sean Carlson used Jacobs as a measuring stick in a 15-50 home victory over Louisville.
Carlson said Jacobs, a junior who was an All-American last season, won that race a year ago in25 minutes, 9seconds. To put it in perspective, Carlson added, Notre Dame had eight runners under 24:12.
“We opened up significantly faster than we have in the past,” he said. “We are a significantly better team than we were a year ago and we were eighth in the country.”
Jacobs shaved off a minute off his 2019 time with a 24:09.87, but teammates Yared Nuguse in 24:06.92 and Andrew Alexander in 24.09.84 edged him out for the individual title.
That’s how good this team is. And that’s why Jacobs is excited to get in any kind of competitive running. He’s also learning to go with the flow since the outdoor track season was canceled.
“It’s definitely wild,” he said. “It’s something where you are always adapting to new things. Classes are different. Your lifestyle is different. Obviously, running is different because you are wearing a mask. There’s a limited amount of races. Practice is different.
“We are all really learning together. We have to be prepared forwhatever happens.”
Shortly after classes started, Notre Dame went into a quarantine for two weeks because nearly 150 people on the South Bend campus tested positive.
“It’s tough adjusting to a small living area, a lot of people around and trying to be careful for everyone’s sake,” he said.“We got through those times but the bigger point is everyone’s safety.
“We need to stay safe for the season. One positive test could set the team back.”
Jacobs took a redshirt for his freshman cross country season, but in track, he was an All-American and on a distance medley relay team that won the national championship.
As a sophomore, he was on a distance medley relay team that won the Alex Wilson Invitational with a 9:25.80, the second-fastest indoor time in NCAA history. In cross country, he was an All-American, finishing 29th in the nation with a 31:12.9.
Jacobs has tried to take all the 2020 changes in stride.
“When we lost the track season, it meant we got an earlier jump on cross country,” he said. “You have to be ready for whatever they throw at you .”