Syracuse Men’s Cross Country Ranked Fourth Heading Into ACC Championships
By Jared Valentin | @jaredvalentin_
After a third-place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational, Syracuse Men’s Cross Country earned a fourth-place ranking in the most recent USTFCCCA poll. After staying at No. 6 for two weeks, SU moved up to No. 4 with 296 points. Northern Arizona remains atop the poll, with Oklahoma State in second and Brigham Young University wrapping up the top three. Syracuse jumped ahead of Wisconsin and North Carolina in this week’s rankings.
Syracuse is now the highest-ranked team in the ACC. North Carolina sits behind them in the 11th spot. Virginia moved down to 16th after being in the top ten last week. Reigning ACC champion Wake Forest is ranked 20th, while Florida State and North Carolina State both fell out of the rankings.
SU took down UNC, Wake Forest, Florida State, and North Carolina State at the Nuttycombe Invitational. Runners Perry Mackinnon and Paul O’Donnell led the scoring for the Orange with a 19th and 20th place finish. The seniors traversed the 8k course in 23:46.1 and 23:48.9 respectively. Other top finishers for Syracuse were Sam Lawler (23:59.8) in 34th place, Alex Comerford (24:15.7) in 74th, and Matthew Scrape (24:23.3) just barely missing the top 100 at 106th. SU tallied 251 points on the day to North Carolina’s 399 and Wake Forest’s 430. As a team, UNC just broke the top ten at No. 10, while Wake Forest claimed 16th place. Florida State finished 28th with 621 points and North Carolina State took 31st overall with 677 points.
The Orange gear up for the ACC championships next Friday. This year’s conference champion will be decided in Tallahassee, Florida. Last season, SU placed second with 86 points, only losing to Wake Forest’s 44. Syracuse’s Nathan Lawler led the scoring for the Orange with a seventh-place finish and an 8k time of 23:12.9.
