Syracuse women surge through ranks, into NCAA Northeast Regional

The Syracuse women’s cross-country team finished the 2012 season without a single vote toward the national rankings after starting the season ranked No. 9 in the country.

One year later, the Orange has its highest ranking in two seasons, sitting at No. 19 in the country. As it heads into the Northeast Regional championships this Friday in the Bronx, N.Y., both the coaches and players see Syracuse as a completely transformed team.

“Last year we had a really bad season,” sophomore Brianna Nerud said. “We all came together as a team and wanted to do big things.”

The Orange started this year outside the top 30, and even through Week 4, it hadn’t cracked the national rankings.

Its meteoric rise in Week 5 saw the Orange secure its first top-20 spot since September 2012, a vast improvement head coach Chris Fox credits to the runners’ mentality.

“They’ve got a lot better which has helped build confidence,” Fox said. “A lot of this is about confidence, and they’re a confident group right now.”

Three of Syracuse’s top four finishers at the Atlantic Coast Conference championship — Margo Malone, Meredith Speakman and Brianna Nerud — are just sophomores and have all gained invaluable experience in the course of this year.

Fox emphasized the importance of maturity in a sport like cross-country and how important the extra year of experience has been for those runners.

Not only has the confidence level now peaked, but the cohesiveness has, too.

“We have great team chemistry,” Fox said. “I think that’s one of the keys to us being as good as we are.”

That sentiment wasn’t only expressed by the head coach, but it’s also shared by the runners themselves.

“This team has been unlike any team I’ve been on since I’ve been here,” junior Jessie Petersen said. “There’s not one outlier on this group of seven and that’s a great feeling to have going into every race.”

Petersen, who’s been on the “traveling” team since her first day as a freshman, said she’s never been a part of a team that gets along so well and that has such little separation between the first and last runners.

Since all but one race ranks finishers based on team score, racing as a unit is that much more important.

“I don’t think you can have a high-level team unless you can be unified and really work together as a team,” Nerud said. “It’s really important to be doing it for each other.”

This mentality is what has the Orange believing it has a chance to finish second at regionals and out-run No. 12 Dartmouth. No. 2 Providence is the clear favorite to win the event.

A second-place finish would give the Orange an automatic bid to the national championships next Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind. A third-place finish would still give the Orange a strong chance to secure a spot.

“We would like to go as an auto-bid,” Petersen said. “Second or third would be great, but I think we have what it takes to beat Dartmouth.”