Syracuse struggles at NCAA Championships, finish 26th

At the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, the No. 11 ranked Syracuse men’s team placed 26th with 603 points.

Syracuse was hoping to build on last year’s 13th place finish in Louisville at the NCAA Championships when they were led by the program’s first-ever individual NCAA champion, Justyn Knight.

Before the meet, redshirt sophomore Joe Dragon highlighted the difficulty of running 10-kilometer races in back-to-back weeks but was hopeful the team was peaking at the right moment after their victory at NCAA Northeast Regionals.

Dragon was the only runner in the top-100 for the Orange, as he ran the snow-covered Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in 30:33.1, good for 90th place. It was a notable improvement for Dragon after this 174th placed finish last year at NCAA Championships.

Junior Aidan Tooker (30:50.6) was unable to improve on his 109th place finish at NCAA Championships last year, as he placed 123rd.

Redshirt junior Simon Smith (31:03.6) placed 152nd. Rounding out the scoring five, redshirt freshman Nathan Henderson (31:29.4) and sophomore Noah Affolder (31:30.5) placed 189th and 190th, respectively.

Redshirt senior Shannon Malone was the lone representative for the women’s team after her victory last week at NCAA Northeast Regionals. In her last race for SU, Malone ran the 6k race in 20:46.1, as she placed 60th. Despite only racing three times this season due to a hip injury, Malone was named USTFCCCA Northeast Region Athlete of the Year this past week.

First-year head coach Brien Bell was also named USTFCCCA Northeast Region Coach of the year. Bell continued the six-year streak of a Syracuse coach winning the award, started by his predecessor Chris Fox.