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After the men’s and women’s sides lost their top runners from last season, Syracuse cross country has found its way to becoming a top-ranked program. Currently, the men sit at No. 9 and the women at No. 15 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.

Through four meets, the Orange have shown out both regionally and nationally. Both sides won the first two meets of the year against regional competition in the Harry Lang Invitational and Penn State’s Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational.

National success came from the Coast to Coast Battle in Beantown, where the men finished seventh while the women finished sixth. A day later, the Orange placed with the top teams in the country as the men’s squad finished eighth while the women finished sixth in the Cowboy Jamboree at Oklahoma State.

Redshirt sophomore Savannah Roark placed first among Orange women at the Cowboy Jamboree with a ninth-place finish, and began her season with a first overall finish at Penn State. Despite being an underclassmen, Roark has been forced to take a leading role as one of the team’s and nation’s top finishers.

“I was a little surprised to finish ninth, but also not surprised to see my work paying off,” Roark said.

Roark said all summer, she and her teammates went to Colorado and trained, building cohesion amongst the runners finally translating at the Cowboy Jamboree.

“We had a good culture last year, but this year I feel like we’re just such a unit, and we can feel that at practice,” Roark said.

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The improvement in team chemistry has also been evident on the men’s side, which has started to run with more cohesion.

“As a team we’re really good at staying in a pack and running with each other,” Nathan Henderson said. “That’s something that we’ve been working on and helps movement through the pack during the race. Staying in the pack also helps morale. When you’re in the middle of it and you’re running with teammates, it makes it so much easier.”

Henderson has similarly been faced with the new challenge of being one of the team’s top runners in his sixth year at SU. Despite the bigger role, Henderson has shown up for the task with an early first place victory at Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational. He also finished 41st at the Cowboy Jamboree. The biggest improvement he has noticed about his own running is his confidence shift.

“I’ve been more confident in the way I’ve been racing. I don’t get as anxious before races and don’t get as caught up during things like big packs and everything. I just try to stay focused,” Henderson said.

SU head coach Brien Bell noticed a difference in attitude among the men’s and women’s sides as a key factor for the upcoming season. Bell said this group of runners have been much more positive. The Orange return to action Friday Oct. 14 at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational as they seek to close out their successful regular season before the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship.

“For the team, I think we’re able to do it, we’re already ranked from the top 10. The top five would be great. Podium would be even better,” Henderson said.

Published on October 12, 2022 at 11:37 pm

Contact Brooks: baherb@syr.edu