Without Shannon Malone, redshirt junior Rachel Bonner steps into leadership role

Rachel Bonner entered her final turn of the event at the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships last February. The three-kilometer race was a tactical one, where laps on laps of methodical running culminate in an all-out sprint to decide a winner.

Entering the decisive straight-away sprint, Bonner looked beside her to see two of her teammates, Paige Stoner and Laura Dickinson, dashing right along with her. The trio finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

“I just felt the momentum swinging around that final turn and it was just so intense and gratifying and special to just be running around with those girls,” Bonnersaid.

Following the graduation of senior Shannon Malone, Bonner is set to lead 2019’s installment of Syracuse’s women’s cross-country team after its most successful season since joining the ACC in 2013. When a hip injury sidelined Malone for most of her redshirt senior season, SU was without a defined leader and Bonner, despite her unwillingness to classify as one, stepped into the leadership role. Bonner began to lead workout groups and motivate teammates in training. That, coupled with her strong showings in the championship races down the final stretch of the season, has catapulted her toward becoming a captain for the Orange.

“Rachel has always had a leadership role ever since I got on the team,” said sophomore Laura Dickinson. “She has always been someone that I looked up to as a role model. She works hard. She is a great team player. She always brings a lot of energy and a lot of positivity to all the workouts.”

But Bonner does not see herself as a traditional captain. Following a year in which Malone was the lone representative for the SU women at NCAA Cross Country Championships, Bonner is not focused on filling those shoes. Instead, she prioritizes team success, which starts with setting the pace in workouts.

Eva Suppa | Digital Design Editor

When Bonner runs at the front of the practice pack, her teammates push themselves to keep up, Dickinson said. When Bonner travelled from her hometown in Michigan to Colorado to train in the high altitude this summer, her teammates noticed. SU head coach Brien Bell said Bonner’s lead-by-example style “rubs off on a lot of people.”

The group behind Bonner might be “the best team we have ever had here,” Bell said. Bonner agrees. ACC coaches ranked Syracuse as the fourth best team in the conference entering the season. The only significant departure was Malone, and Syracuse’s top-seven features sophomores Abigail Spiers and Eleanor Lawler and upperclassmen Jordan Jacob, Madeleine Davidson, Dickinson and Bonner.

One year after leading Syracuse to an overall third place finish at the ACC Cross Country Championships, Bonner said title contention is within reach. To get there, it starts with her.

“I don’t know if she necessarily tries to be a leader, but she is,” Bell said. “Whether she wants it or not, her personality just is something people gravitate towards. She is very grounded. [Bonner] is ready and responsible, and relentless and reliable. She embodies those characteristics.”

“She knows what needs to get done.”