Hehir, Petersen lead Syracuse into ACC championships

Martin Hehir and Jessie Petersen have been stars for Syracuse both on and off the course as they lead the Orange into its first Atlantic Coast Conference championships.

Hehir, a redshirt sophomore, leads the No. 14 men into the ACC championships on Friday in Kernersville, N.C., as the favorite to take the team title. Petersen, a junior, leads the No. 19 women as one of the favorites to contend with No. 5 Florida State.

Hehir, who has been the top runner for Syracuse this season, was a 2012 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic honoree and a member of the 2011-12 All-Big East Team.

“The key for me is not to get too stressed. My time management is important because it just keeps me sane,” Hehir said with a chuckle.

When asked how he would describe Hehir, head coach Chris Fox had one word: “patient.”

This Friday, Hehir will run for his second consecutive individual conference title after winning the crown as a freshman in the Big East last year.

“That would definitely be a huge accomplishment,” Hehir said. “It would mean a lot not just for me but the school, too.”

Not only could the Orange boast an individual champion for the second straight year, but it’s also vying for its second straight team championship after out-running the Big East last year. Its main challengers this time around seem to be No. 18 North Carolina and No. 23 Notre Dame.

The Syracuse women have skyrocketed up the rankings in the past several weeks with Petersen’s help, but defeating Florida State provides a significant obstacle.

“Because they’re a top five team in the nation, we’ll focus on beating other teams first,” Petersen said. “You never know what can happen with these races, so we will focus on our racing style first.”

Off the course, she has been just as successful. She has been named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll every semester she has been at SU.

“As basic as it sounds, they key is to learn focus,” she said. “It’s so easy to pretend to do work and fake it, but when you have as little time as we do, I tend to use the small time I have between classes to do work instead of relax.”

A runner who Fox described as “relentless,” Petersen has consistently been one of the top racers for the Orange along with sophomore Margo Malone.

The grind will continue for Hehir and Petersen as they guide SU into the postseason and an ACC championship meet that Fox believes both teams can finish very close to the top.

“If we get lucky and something good happens,” Fox said, “perhaps even better than that.”