After setting records in Europe, Paul O’Donnell focuses on qualifying for NCAA Championships
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With the last-lap bell ringing, Paul O’Donnell picked up his pace and surpassed Louisville’s Ian Kibiwot. O’Donnell, Syracuse’s lone runner on the men’s 5000m race in the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, gradually extended his lead over Kibiwot, sealing his first conference title and a big win for Syracuse.
“The strategy with Coach Bell is to not lead the race until towards the end,” O’Donnell said of his final lap. “I was trying to conserve as much energy and keep my pace as even as possible so that when I got towards the end, I had that one more gear to pick up and try to take it past the leader of the race.”
O’Donnell began track and cross country in 2015 after joining Dundrum South Dublin Athletics Club in his native country of Ireland. During his time there, he amassed significant experience, including a win at the men’s 5000m of National League Final in Tullamore, Ireland, a second-place finish in the 3000m steeplechase at the England Athletics U20/U23 Championships and a second-place finish in 10000m at the Irish Championships.
“That is our strategy on how we want to race,” Syracuse head coach Brien Bell said of O’Donnell’s successes. “He took advantage of his situation that he was afforded and made the best.”
Before O’Donnell decided to continue his collegiate career in America, Syracuse’s assistant coach Tito Medrano first showed interest in recruiting him because of his outstanding skillset. Bell didn’t intervene during the recruitment, but he was confident about Medrano’s efforts.
“It was a successful marriage,” Bell said of O’Donnell’s commitment to SU. “Tito knows what we’re trying to do.”
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Arriving at Syracuse, O’Donnell said he enjoyed the academic opportunities as well as the atmosphere and culture surrounding athletics. He believed he had chosen the correct stage for him to display his talent.
Bell said there wasn’t anything challenging about O’Donnell’s transition from Ireland to the United States since there are similarities between European and NCAA competition. Through effective communication with Bell, O’Donnell acclimated to his new competition and became one of the top runners in the program, finishing eight in his first-ever NCAA cross country meet — a 10000m at the Northeast Region Cross Country Championships. He also earned United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association All-Northeast Region honors.
“There’s a lot of top-class athletes in Europe as well that I get to race pretty regularly, so that helps (me) because the NCAA is such a high quality that having experience of a similar quality in Europe really stands to you over there,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell made his Syracuse indoor track debut in December 2022, placing 66th in the 5000m with 13:54.94 at the Boston University Sharon Cloyear Danville Season Opener. In January 2023, he completed the mile race at 4:08.63 and 3000m at 8:08.27 at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic, finishing 54th and 38th, respectively. In the last event before the conference championships, he posted his personal best of 8:00.09 in men’s 3000m, placing 44th in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invite.
Because of the accumulation of low-ranked records, O’Donnell was assigned to the unseeded section of the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s 5000m on February 23.
“The start of the season wasn’t brilliant,” O’Donnell said. “I had some okay times, but not what I really wanted. Because of that, I was in the B race (unseeded section) for ACC, which I was quite disappointed with.”
O’Donnell quickly bounced back, winning his section with a personal record of 13:50.94 in the 5000m. Afterwards, he positioned himself on the sideline, alongside Bell, Medrano and other assistant coaches to watch the seeded section. As the race went on, his excitement increasingly grew. He partially celebrated with coaches in advance, feeling more and more confident. He knew he would have beat the top section if he had qualified to compete with that group.
“(I was) watching the A race (the seeded section). They went off pretty slow,” O’Donnell said. “It was pretty cool to watch myself win the title by the other race going a bit slow at the start.”
To begin the season, O’Donnell wasn’t satisfied. He hadn’t experienced the toughest challenge, but ambition triggered a new goal — to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
“Paul keeps running the mileage that he needs to run, showing up on time, like he always does,” Bell said. “He’s always positive in terms of working hard and excited about it.”
