‘ZERO TO HERO’: An oral history of Syracuse cross country’s 2015 national title

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Sept. 25, 2015

Syracuse headed into the Coast-to-Coast Battle In Beantown two weeks after a second-place showing at an invitational at Penn State. The Orange were searching for their first victory in a 2015 meet. After this meet at Boston College, they didn’t lose for the rest of the season. 

Knight: We won Boston pretty handily. We won Wisconsin. We won ACCs. We were so used to being underdogs, but the momentum of gathering all these wins really boosted our confidence. 

Lotsbom: They had the depth needed for the national championship. They really built momentum from September up until the national championship. 

Colin Bennie, Syracuse runner: There was one Sweet Road workout … it was either the week before the ACCs or the week before regionals that fall. It’s just sort of this sort of historic day in all of our minds … I just remember everybody running way faster than anyone had ever run up at that point of Sweet Road before. I think we all just kind of looked at each other and were like, “Oh wow, we’re ready to roll. If we can do that, then we can do just about anything at this point.”

Hubbard: While there was pressure on us, and we were under the spotlight, we never even thought about that. We were having fun. We lived with each other. We ran with each other.

Pryor: Syracuse won the ACC Championships, and then we won the regionals. So, it was like a buildup. It was like an anticipation. Everybody kept saying, “Oh man, you’re right, this team is rocking. These guys are winning.” I said, “I told you. I’ve been watching this team for the last five years. They’re going to do it.” 

Louisville, Kentucky
Nov. 21, 2015

Fox’s squad knew since the start of the season that the goal was to reach the podium in Louisville, and the runners were fresh off a first-place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship eight days prior. Former SU runners traveled to E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park and set-up a tailgate-like atmosphere at the finish line. 

Navarro: On race day, we were there before sunrise, setting up shop as the runners from all teams started to warm up. 

Lotsbom: From the get-go, Syracuse’s presence was felt. Talking to them a day before the race, they knew the task at hand, and they were all business in order to run their best race, knowing that Colorado was going to be a top threat to their title hopes. 

Fox: I don’t really try to do anything on race day except keep everyone calm and just kind of smiling and happy … Our sport is not one where you just give a great speech and turn the game around. It’s one of a long buildup of training and confidence. 

Knight: Pre-race, I was really nervous … finishing 143rd (the year before) and seeing a bunch of people cross you, that was traumatizing for me … Coach Fox instilled some confidence in me, and I calmed down. 

Germano: The biggest piece of advice I was told before the race was from a former runner, Joe Allen: “Be patient and do not freak out if you feel like you are drowning in the beginning of the race.” 

Hehir: The day off, the alumni were there in full force, generations of Syracuse runners. It was the first time I saw someone tailgate a cross country meet. 

Jennifer Knight, Justyn’s mother: It was my first tailgate experience ever. We stayed all the way to the end. It was fantastic to see how all the camaraderie and the history of the ‘Cuse alumni work together to support the team in the biggest race of the year.

Knight: They were so loud, I could hear them during the race … Just seeing our alumni and fans go crazy made us want to win that championship.

Hubbard: We all had to have a great day, but somebody had to step up on the unexpected day, and that ended up working out — it ended up being Philo Germano.

Once the race began, SU’s top runners took the lead, with Knight finishing fourth and Bennie and Hehir finishing seconds apart at eighth and ninth, respectively. But it was Germano, the unheralded walk-on, whose race stood out the most. In the last 1K, he passed 13 runners on his way to finishing 39th. 

Hubbard: (Germano) was 80th or something at the Wisconsin meet that fall, and then he ended up being 39th at nationals. People don’t make that jump usually. If anything, people usually go backwards … For Philo to jump, it was such a remarkable thing, and it was the difference maker.

Germano: I thought I was at least in the 100s and began to freak out. I eventually came to a comfortable mindset in the last 2K and started to pick up speed. It was a jolt for me to cross the finish line while passing as many people as I can.

Sara Germano, Philo’s mother: When my daughter and I were running to go to the back to find all the runners, I remember running in this big field, and this guy comes up, and he grabs me and hugs me, and it was Coach (Adam) Smith, and he says, “He did it, he did it.” 

Germano: I am pretty sure Coach Fox came up to me at the hotel and asked, “What the f*ck was that?” I think that summed up how we all felt about the race. 

With Syracuse’s top five runners under the tent by the finish line, the scoreboard eventually landed on Syracuse’s name. The Colorado team, standing right next to Syracuse, congratulated the cross country champions on the spot. Long-awaited celebrations ensued.

Fox: When they started posting the scores on the scoreboard, it kept changing … For a little bit we won, for a little bit Colorado won, and finally they posted the official score, and we won. Yeah, it was amazing. 

Pryor: The NCAA took so much time in announcing the winner, and so we’re standing there, and for a long time — for at least an hour — the big scoreboard kept saying that Colorado won. So we’re like, not bad, we came in second … All of a sudden, I start hearing people screaming. And so, I looked at one of my former teammates, and I said, “Wouldn’t it be something if we won.” … Somebody says, “We won.” And I said, “No way.” 

Chris Getman, former Syracuse runner: I love the fact that they caught some people off guard. It was an upset, but in hindsight, it came from less than a decade, from ground zero to a national championship. It is just unbelievable.

Tom Ryan, former Syracuse runner: It was like being at a basketball game in the Dome when it’s overtime against Georgetown … It was that kind of excitement, when everybody’s on their feet, and they win the game at the last second — in overtime. That was the kind of thrill that all of us had when they announced they had won.

The team celebrated on the podium with numerous alumni and spoke with Ryan Urie, a member of the 2014 team who was battling leukemia, on FaceTime. That morning, the players took photos with the national championship trophy and the engraved Louisville Slugger bat and waved 6-foot Syracuse flags in celebration. 

Bennie: Whoever thought to get (Ryan) up on the phone for FaceTime and have him be held in front of the trophy, that was very special. And I know my parents have a picture of us up on the podium like that, and you can see Ryan Urie on the FaceTime, and he’s got a smile from ear to ear … I know getting to share that experience with him probably meant even more than the experience itself just because he shaped … pretty much everyone on that team just as much as we all shaped each other.

Knight: Seeing Coach Fox, Smith and (Brien) Bell being so happy because they have been there longer than us, building the program up against critics that said they would never win an NCAA championship, just to see their faces was heartwarming.

Fox: We planned on something. We built for it for 10 years, and we got there.

Pryor: To Coach Fox’s credit, he had every one of the alumni take a picture with the NCAA plaque. So everyone got to hold the NCAA plaque, which none of us had ever done … Everybody now shared in the memory of Syracuse winning a national title in cross country.

Hehir: We carried that trophy all over the city that night. We never fell asleep. Even for a 7 a.m. flight, we were running off the high of winning. We were just obnoxious, carrying the trophy, still cheering. We tucked the trophy in, gave it his own seat. 

The Orange solidified themselves as a powerhouse after 2015’s title, which helped with recruiting. Five seniors — including Hehir — departed that year, and Fox did the same in the summer of 2018. The program experienced a steady rebuild under head coach Bell, but the expectation for future success remained.

Knight: We already accomplished (the championship), so that feeling of desperately wanting to do it was not all there (in 2016). We definitely still had a hunger to win it, but we already had a taste of victory. That being said, we added a lot of great new runners and had a great season, while ending up placing third in 2016. We gave it our best. We did not all perform as best as we wanted to. We had the talent to repeat, but we were not the best team that day. 

Fox: We defended well, the guys ran great, and we came up a little short. 2015 was the perfect season, 2016 was about 10% off.

Knight: The team is in good hands. We are at a point of rebuilding. The class of Marty Hehir really set down the sacrifice and discipline to win. The guys there now are really in the same boat in trying to build that culture. Having a coaching transition was a huge hit to the team, but having someone in-house really helped. I think it is building up something special for the next few years.

Hehir: What Coach Fox and Bell did, starting as the worst team in the Big East to winning a national championship, the bar has been set for the caliber of the team and the runner.

Ryan: When I ran at Syracuse in the 80s, it was unimaginable that they had a national caliber team in cross country. (I’m) very, very proud. 

Ken Miller, former Syracuse runner: I never thought Syracuse would win a national championship in (either) track and field or cross country. It never crossed my mind, even when I was at Syracuse. So, it’s like a dream come true. 

Jonathan Gault, reporter for LetsRun.com: Their legacy is they showed the sport it was possible to go from zero to hero, to build a national title contender from the ground up.

Pryor: For my school to do it, and for me to be there, and for me to have all my former teammates there, you couldn’t write it (any) better.

Banner photo design by Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor; Photos courtesy of Jamie Navarro