After a long layoff, Justyn Knight prepares for a return to the field

Syracuse’s men’s cross country team has claimed three meet titles this season, all without the help of its best runner.

After the spring track season, Justyn Knight ran about two more months, including one month working one-on-one with cross country head coach Chris Fox. In mid-August, he competed in the IAAF World Championships and took time to recuperate after the event. He’s sat out all three races SU has participated in this fall, most recently the coast to coast battle in Beantown.

“There was times during the training for worlds where I felt tired or felt it was a lot harder than usual,” said Knight. “I think that was just because I was training by myself instead of having the team around me.”

Knight believes the experience was worth the extra stress on his body. He raced against cross country legend Mo Farah in his final world competition, where he placed ninth in the 5000-meter finals. He thought he could’ve raced with Syracuse earlier, but did not want to take the risk.

“I felt like I could keep going,” Knight said, “but I knew I had to take some time for myself.”

The transition between running cross country and track isn’t difficult, Fox said, but doing it properly requires time off. Although track requires faster running, Knight is used to the transition, Fox said. It’s something he’s done his entire running career.

Frank Bergin, who coached Knight at St. Michael’s College School for two years, believes Knight needed some extra time to recover.

“When I coached him, he would always listen to what I said,” Bergin said, “Whatever coach Fox says about him competing now or later, I’m sure he will follow it.”

When Syracuse first recruited Knight, Bergin originally told Fox to train Knight “gently” because he had only competed for about two years in high school. Five years later, Bergin believes the same advice follows Knight to his senior cross country debut.

As of Wednesday, Fox and Knight both agreed that the latter is about “90 percent” ready to compete. Knight’s presence will lead Syracuse as the middle of the season nears, but SU will take it one meet at a time.

“He could race really effective right now if he had to,” Fox said. “(Knight’s) working really hard right now, so we’ll know if he’s going to race in the next meet soon.”