Baton passed to new runners in 2022 after several key departures

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Syracuse begins its season on Sept. 3 in the Harry Lang Invitational against Colgate. The Orange enter the year having lost their top 2021 runner on both the men’s and women’s teams.

The men lost Joe Dragon, who finished first at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational (25:11.8) last year and placed the highest on the team in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship and the NCAA Championship. The team’s next two highest placing runners —  Aidan Tooker and JP Trojan — also graduated. 

Amanda Vestri, the lead runner for the women, graduated as well. Vestri dominated by finishing first at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational (20:15.5) and the ACC Championship (20:05).

Both teams will look for other runners to place in the upcoming season, such as Matthew Scrape. Scrape finished fastest among returning men’s runners at the ACC Championship and the NCAA Regional, finishing 22nd (24:16.6) and 13th (30:47), respectively. Meanwhile, Savannah Roark finished first out of SU women at the NCAA Championship, placing 161st (20:51.9) as a sophomore.

Here’s a look at some of the major meets this season, and how SU fared in them last year:

Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational

On Sept. 9, the Orange will travel to Penn State for the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational. In 2021, SU finished fourth out of six teams, with Amanda Vestri coming in first overall (20:15.5) in the women’s 6K. 

For the men’s 5.2 mile run, the Orange finished second out of six teams behind. Dragon and Nathan Henderson finished first (25:11.8) and second (25:13.5), respectively, in the event. 

Cowboy Jamboree

On Sept. 24, Syracuse will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to compete against nationally ranked powerhouses such as Oklahoma State and Northern Arizona. Both the men’s and women’s teams will run in the 8k, where Syracuse did not compete in 2021.

Nuttycombe Invitational

SU returns to Madison, Wisconsin on Oct. 14 for one of their biggest events of the season — the Nuttycombe Invitational. Last year, the men finished 20th out of 31 teams in the 8K championship with Iowa State taking first. Individually, Dragon ranked 15th (23:39.6), Aidan Tooker placed 52nd (24:04.5) and Trojan was third for SU at 87th (24:25.4). They were the only SU runners to finish in the top 100.

In the women’s 6K Championship, SU finished seventh out of 36 teams. Vestri ended up taking ninth (20:13.3) in the event. Without Vestri this year, SU hopes to have another quality finish from Roark, who finished 52nd (20:55.7).

ACC Championship

To start the postseason, Syracuse will travel to Virginia for the ACC Championship on Oct 28. Since joining the conference in 2013, SU has won six ACC men’s cross country titles, finishing second last year. Dragon finished first among SU runners and eighth overall (23:53.0).

On the women’s side, they finished fourth in the 6K as Vestri crossed the finish line in third (20:12.7). Roark finished third out of Orange runners and 23rd overall (20:52).

With a new team in place, the men and women’s teams will face learning curves, competing on the national stage week after week.