Syracuse Cross Country Competes at NCAA Championships

SU men score a top-20 finish.

The men and women's teams headed down to Tallahassee Saturday for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, hosted by Florida State.

The men’s team ran to their rank, 19th, leading to their best finish at NCAA’s since 2017.

Senior Joe Dragon led the Orange along the 10,000-meter course placing 55th overall in a time of 29:42.5. Seniors JP Trojan (30:00.4) and Aidan Tooker (30:06.4) followed behind placing 78th and 90th respectively.

Sophomore Matthew Scrape (30:21.3/121) and freshman Alex Comerford (31:88.8/222) rounded out the scoring five for the Orange. Senior Brody Smith (32:46.9/243) and sophomore Joey Eovaldi (34:27.5/250) were the sixth and seventh runners for ‘Cuse.

Syracuse finished with 485 points.

Northern Arizona won the meet with 92 points, followed by Iowa State (137) and Oklahoma State (186).

As for the women, they ran without two of their top scorers this season. NCAA Northeast Regional Champion, senior Amanda Vestri and redshirt junior, Holly Bent did not compete.

In their absence, freshman Savannah Roark finished first for ‘Cuse along the 6,000-meter course in a time of 20:51.9, placing 161st overall. Finishing close behind, junior Abigail Spiers crossed the line 170th in 20:55.9.

Senior Annie Boos (21:11.3/199), freshman Reilly Zink (21:14.2/202) and freshman Sydney Nowicki (21:16.0/204) rounded out the top five for the Orange. Sophomores Sophia Jacobs-Townsley (21:18.4) and Justus Holden-Betts (22:13.8) finished 209th and 240th respectively for Syracuse.

As a team, the women finished 30th with a total of 768 points.

NC State took home their first NCAA Championship winning the team title in 84 points. BYU was runner up with 122 points followed closely by New Mexico (130).

This wraps up the 2021 cross country season and the Orange will look towards the start of indoor track. Syracuse is set to compete in their first meet of the season in two weeks.