Syracuse cross-country: 2024 season preview

Can the Orange get back on the podium

The Syracuse Orange officially start the 2024 season tomorrow at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational.

Last season, the Syracuse men finished 9th at the NCAA Championships while the women were 27th. The teams were 2nd and 4th respectively at the ACC Championships and with Stanford joining the conference, the competition will get even tougher in 2024.

The Syracuse women start the season ranked Women 29th in the country, 3rd in the region in the USTFCCCA pre-season poll while the men ranked 22nd in the country, also 3rd in the region.

In addition to the return of NCAA competitors Savannah Roark, Rylie Lusk, Olivia Joly, Emma Eastman and Baneet Bains, the Orange have added transfers Heidi Demeo (Oklahoma State) and Nyah Hernandez (Arkansas). We’ll see if the experience can help bring along a group of seven incoming freshmen.

On the men’s side, the Orange must replace Perry Mackinnon and Paul O’Donnell and will look for Sam Lawler, Assaf Harari and Alex Comerford along with top 2023 recruits Benne Anderson and Connor Ackley to lead this fall. Syracuse typically redshirts their freshmen so opportunities exist for runners like Julien Franjeh, Eamon Burke and Kamari Miller to push for top 7 spots

Here are the full ACC Preseason Polls:

Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll

1. NC State (15), 321 points
2. Notre Dame (3), 302
3. Stanford, 279
4. Virginia, 275
5. North Carolina, 239
6. Syracuse, 234
7. Boston College, 223
8. Wake Forest, 171
9. Duke, 166
10. Virginia Tech, 133
11. Florida State, 131
12. Georgia Tech, 111
13. Clemson, 110
14. Louisville, 106
15. SMU, 95
16. Cal, 81
17. Pitt, 79
18. Miami, 21

Men’s Cross Country Preseason Poll

1. North Carolina (13), 282 points
2. Virginia (2), 250
3. Stanford (1), 249
4. Notre Dame (1), 242
5. Syracuse, 235
6. Wake Forest, 205
7. NC State, 182
8. Florida State, 153
9. Duke, 144
10. Virginia Tech, 130
11. Pitt, 105
12. Cal, 101
13. Louisville, 92
14. Georgia Tech, 89
15. Boston College, 75
16. Clemson, 63
17. Miami, 19

We’ll have full coverage of the sport of kings and queens all fall here at NunesMagician.