Syracuse men’s team finishes 5th at NCAAs; women’s team places 24th

On a windy but warm day in Terre Haute, Indiana, the No. 2-ranked Syracuse men’s team finished fifth on Saturday in the NCAA men’s cross-country national championships with 206 points, SU’s best showing in 57 years. The women’s team, running in its sixth-ever nationals meet, finished 24th out of 31 teams.

The top finisher for the SU men was junior M.J. Erb, in 37th with a time of 32:52.9 in the 10K.

Syracuse’s four other scoring runners were senior Martin Hehir at 38th, redshirt senior Max Straneva in 42nd, junior Dan Lennon finished 45th and freshman Colin Bennie rounded out the Orange at 95th. A steady top-three finisher throughout the season, freshman Justyn Knight dropped to 143rd.

This is just the second time since 1957 that the Orange men’s team finished in the top five at nationals.

Syracuse finished just behind Northern Arizona, but edged out Oregon, who had the top-two overall finishers.

The top runner for the SU women’s team was junior Margo Malone, who finished 63rd with a time of 20:58.3 in the 6K.

After that, senior Jessie Petersen placed 130th, senior Maura Linde finished 140th, junior Rebecca Skodis came in 188th and sophomore Sydney Leiher placed 198th.

The women’s team regressed slightly from its 2013 performance in the NCAAs when they finished 22nd, but it was SU’s second straight appearance at the NCAAs since missing the competition in 2012.

Compiled by Sam Fortier, staff writer, sjfortie@syr.edu.