New York’s status as ‘best cross-country state’ paying dividends for Syracuse

Last season, Syracuse head coach Chris Fox led the men’s cross-country team to 10th place in the NCAA championships, its best finish in 56 years.

He accomplished that with a roster featuring three of 21 runners from west of the Mississippi River.

That ratio is the same this season and the lack of geographical diversity is no coincidence. When it comes to recruiting for Syracuse, it’s had its most success recruiting runners from New York state. The tactic — which is coupled with aggressive recruiting along the east coast — has worked, as the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association coaches’ poll has the Orange eighth in the nation, and first in the Atlantic Coast Conference by a six-spot margin.

“(New York) is very fertile,” Fox said. “It’s the best cross-country state in the country because the sport is traditional and the big population.”

Though Syracuse’s roster is stocked with local talent, SU still puts many resources toward national recruiting.

But in Fox’s eight-person freshman class on the men’s team, Ontario native Justyn Knight is the only runner from west of New York, and four out the eight runners are from the state itself. Ever since he was hired by SU in 2005, Fox has said it’s a priority to get the best prospects in New York state every year if they are good enough.

Yet it’s not the only state Fox looks in.

“Recruiting is nationwide. It’s not local at all,” Fox said. “Letters go out from (recruiting director) coach (Brien) Bell to every good kid in the country.”

Syracuse assistant coach Adam Smith is one of the team’s main recruiters. He credits the large staff — the Orange has four distance coaches — for allowing him to be on the road so much.

When he is on the road, it’s usually in the Northeast because that’s an area in which Syracuse has had success. Since Syracuse is the running powerhouse of the Northeast, it is much easier to convince kids from the area to run in the climate they’re used to.

“We attack our strengths,” Smith said. “We try to be at all the big meets to show the New York kids love.

“ … We don’t have as much luck recruiting kids from the south. They don’t want to come up north, in the cold, and run.”

The same principle generally applies when Syracuse recruits in the West Coast, but there are exceptions.

Ryan Urie of San Diego, California, and Andrew Bennison of Portland, Oregon, are two of the three Syracuse runners from west of the Mississippi River. They specifically mentioned feeling adventurous and weren’t worried about culture changes coming east.

“I’m not afraid of the weather,” Urie said.

Bennison expressed the same thought, saying the strength of the program outweighed the unfamiliarity.

A major part of getting them to Syracuse is that both Urie’s and Bennison’s high school coaches had prior, longstanding relationships with Fox and told the head coach about them.

After finding them, though, Fox and the SU coaching staff had to sell the program. What’s convincing recruits — from New York, the East Coast and West Coast — is that Syracuse is on the upswing. Last year its ranking was the highest since it won its first, and only, NCAA Division I men’s cross country championship in 1951.

And while the majority of the roster is recruiting in state due to the program’s influence in the area, Fox and his staff continue to look all over for top talent.

“In a way (during recruiting) we’re used car salesmen,” Fox said. “But we didn’t sell them a lemon. We gave them a good product.”