Watch
Syracuse cross country team closes the 2011 campaign on Monday when the Orange travel to Terre Haute, Ind. for the 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The race will consist of the 62 best cross country teams in the country, and will be taking place on the Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course beginning at 12:08 p.m.
This year’s NCAA Championship will prove to be an exciting one as the Orange come off of its third straight NCAA Northeast Regional title. Fans can watch live streaming video of both races on
NCAA.com.
The Orange men have had an interesting season thus far, and have begun to peak entering the season's biggest race. The men started the season off rocky, finishing fifth at the Paul Short Invitational and 22nd at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational. However, their perseverance this fall has paid off as the Orange men finished first in the region after being ranked third going into the race. The team had its biggest margin of victory of any of its three wins, beating Iona by 18 points.
The Orange women’s season has all but mirrored the men so far. The women finished sixth at the competitive Wisconsin Adidas Invitational earlier this fall, which catapulted the women into the top-10 nationally. SU continued on its torrid pace to win the regional championship for the third year in a row despite not running its strongest race of the season.
SU In The Polls:
The Syracuse men came off of their Northeast Region win and moved from 29th in the USTFCCCA national poll to 12th. Syracuse women won the Northeast Region as well, but the USTFCCCA noticed that the Orange women had an off-day, and placed SU from ninth in the nation to 12th.
Last Time Out:
Syracuse men and women both won their third straight Northeast Regional Championship last weekend. The men had five runners in the top- 16, while the women had the runner-up finisher in Lauren Penney en route to an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships.
Pat Dupont,
Tito Medrano, and Joe Whelan all finished in the top-10; fourth (31:21), ninth (31:35), and tenth (31:35) respectively.
Sean Keefe and
Forrest Misenti finished 15th (31:42) and 16th (31:45).
Max Straneva and
Andrew Palmer were the Orange sixth and seventh runners in (33rd; 32:21.70) and (69th; 32:59.80) respectively.
Lauren Penney finished second in 20:39, while
Sarah Pagano also finished in the top-10 in eighth with a time of 21:02.
Shaylyn Tuite and
Heather Stephens finished close together in 27th (21:28) and 31st (21:35) respectively.
Rebekah MacKay was Syracuse’s fifth runner in 48th with a time of (21:57).
Natalie Busby and
Jessie Petersen were Syracuse’s sixth and seventh in 54th (22:05) and 87th (22:43).