TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Pouring rain, strong winds and a 33 degree weather aren’t ideal conditions to be outside in. Cold and wet feet make it almost impossible to move.

It’s even worse if you’re a runner.

On Saturday afternoon, Syracuse men’s cross country team ran in these conditions in its most important race of the season — the 2019 NCAA Cross Country National Championships at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. They placed 27th out of 31 teams, their worst finish since they failed to qualify as a team in 2008.

While the men’s race started at 12:15 p.m., the women ran an hour earlier on the same course, meaning hundreds of running had already trampled over the soft terrain. Before the race had even started, the 400-meter final chute had no grass, and water was starting to puddle in the middle.

Allie Kaylor | Staff Writer

Weather has been the team’s vice all season. A cold, windy day in October led Syracuse to a 24th place finish at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational. Last week at the NCAA Northeast Regional, there was so much snow on the ground that the race was moved from its usual location on a golf course to the streets of Buffalo. While the men’s team finished second, their performance was not at the same level it had been in previous years at the same competition.

Despite training in Syracuse, the team has always struggled to adjust to the conditions. Last year at the NCAA Championships, conditions were very similar— cold, windy and wet. And like Saturday, the 2018 squad underperformed, finishing 26th overall.

The team had confidence going into this weekend, they said earlier in the week. Although they were ranked 18th in the country, they had experience running faster than other teams in the field.

“There’s a whole group of teams we’ve already beat this year,” coach Brien Bell said before the race.

Syracuse last won a national championship four years ago in 2015. The pillars of that team — Justyn Knight, Colin Bennie, Philo Germano — have since graduated. Redshirt seniors Kevin James and Simon Smith are the only current runners that were in the program in 2015, but both of them redshirted their first season and did not compete.

Since their team title, the Orange have regressed every season. In order, they’ve finished third, 13th, 26th and now 27th in 2019.

Young runners were the ones leading the pack today. Redshirt sophomore Nathan Henderson (31:49.4) placed 82nd, improving over 100 spots from his finish last season. Sophomore Matthew Scrape (31:58.6) finished 97th in his NCAA National Championship debut.

Redshirt freshman Noah Beveridge (32:42.3), redshirt junior Dominic Hockenbury (32:44.4), and redshirt senior Kevin James (32:54.6) all finished in the top 200, as well.

When Syracuse runners crossed the finish line, each one ran inside an adjacent tent. They were covered head-to-toe in mud.

Allie Kaylor | Staff Writer

Published on November 23, 2019 at 4:55 pm

aekaylor@syr.edu | @cincinnallie