Back in action for the harriers!
NCAA Cross-Country season officially kicks off this weekend as teams can begin earning points towards at-large selections. The Syracuse Orange headed down to the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational and the Orange came home with 1st and 2nd place team finishes.
Sam Lawler erased a five-second deficit to earn the individual win in a time of 24:55 for the 5.2 mile course. Assaf Harari took 3rd (24:56) followed by Benne Anderson (6th in 25:00), Alex Comerford (8th in 25:05) and Connor Ackley (13th in 25:18). The Orange easily out-paced 2nd place Georgetown 31-70 to take the win.
Team Results:
| Syracuse | 31 pts
| Georgetown | 70 pts
| Missouri | 147 pts
4 | Columbia | 163 pts
5 | Penn State | 165 pts— Penn State Track & Field/Cross Country (@PennStateTFXC) September 13, 2024
The Syracuse women took 2nd behind host Penn State. Savannah Roark led the way with a 3rd place finish covering the 6k course in 20:18, followed by Rylie Lusk (9th in 20:43), Emma Eastman (12th in 20:44), Jayden Harberts (18th in 20:56) and Heidi Demeo (20th in 20:59).
Syracuse finished ahead of Princeton, UConn and Pittsburgh, so it doesn’t appear as though they would earn any potential NCAA at-large points, but it’s a good start to the season for the Orange.
The Orange will be back in action in two weeks in Madison, Wisconsin where we will get a good sense of how the teams stack up this year.