When Pat Dupont crossed the finish line, he immediately turned around and felt sick to his stomach.

Dupont was not physically ill – though he just completed the 8,000-meter race in a team-best 24:51 – he was just nervous. He didn’t see any of his teammates in the immediate distance.

Then, a wave of Orange appeared, as six SU runners all finished within a 23 second span.

‘They just all came in at once,’ Dupont said. ‘We have a really tight pack and with cross country, you have to be deep. The fact that we are so deep and we were able to put eight guys in front of Georgetown’s fourth like that is ridiculous.’

Dupont and the ‘pack’ of Syracuse runners captured the program’s first Big East Championship on Saturday, as they finished six points ahead of defending national champion, Georgetown. Though some squads struggled to get more than three of their runners in the top 20, the Orange had seven top 20 performers.

It is this depth that has propelled the SU men’s cross country team to new levels this year. In addition to the team’s first conference championship, the men are ranked No. 11 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. The Orange next turns its attention to the NCAA Northeast Regional meet on Nov. 14 in Boston, which leads into the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 23.

The women’s squad finished third Saturday in the Big East meet.

‘It was the best cross country day we have ever had,’ said Jeff Scull, who returned to the program as a graduate student this year. ‘This is why I came back. This is what we have been talking about for the four years I have been here and for it to just finally all come true was really cool.’

It was almost not so cool.

As soon as the runners crossed the finish line, they started to celebrate. They thought they won by a comfortable margin and their excitement showed as soon as they finished.

‘We thought we won by quite a bit,’ Scull said. ‘We were jumping around and yelling. Then like half an hour later we found out we only won by six points, and we were thinking how stupid we would have looked if we didn’t win.’

Instead, the Orange had reason to celebrate.

A different runner has led the Orange in every race this year. What head coach Chris Fox refers to as ‘a very interchangeable front seven’ was on full display Saturday.

Dupont has been the team’s sixth runner all year, but ‘raced out of his mind,’ according to Scull, and led the Orange to victory. This has been a common pattern for the Orange, however, as each race appears to be an opportunity for a different runner to step up.

‘We have seven great guys every single race, whereas most teams are struggling just to get five,’ Scull said. ‘We don’t ever have any superstars, but we have seven guys that can finish within 10 or 15 seconds of each other in every race. Someone always steps up.’

Heading into the race on Saturday, SU knew it would take a great performance to knock off the favorite, and it did just that.

To prepare his team to make history, Fox got a bit sentimental before the meet.

‘I started telling them about when I won the SEC back in ’79 or something and that it is just something to remember,’ Fox said. ‘I wanted to make sure that they appreciated the opportunity that they were getting ready to take advantage of, which they did.’

The story helped motivate the players and focus them before the huge race. Unfortunately for Fox, he was far from relaxed.

‘The first two miles, you are sick to your stomach because things need to sort out,’ Fox said. ‘But once we hit three miles, other coaches were coming up to me. I mean these are my rivals coming up to me saying, ‘You guys have it won,’ so that was pretty cool. I was much more confident over the last mile.’

As the men were celebrating in Kenosha, Wis., fans were cheering at the Carrier Dome back in Syracuse. At halftime of the Syracuse-Cincinnati football game, there was an announcement over the public address system stating that the cross country men just won the Big East title.

This set off a steady stream of activity on Fox’s cell phone.

‘I got about 20 texts from friends at the football game who heard it over the speakers, so that was pretty cool,’ Fox said.

For now, the men’s squad can relax a bit. Regionals are much less important because of the points the men have already racked up. Nationals are the key.

Among the nation’s best, Syracuse hopes to make more history.

‘We just have to get through Regionals and run OK, and then this will be the first time in a long time that the program has been to Nationals,’ Dupont said. ‘I think we can get top 10 there. Hopefully we will run great like we have been doing.’

restern@syr.edu