Busy weekend for Syracuse cross country/track

The revised NCAA schedules meant that the Syracuse Orange were competing in cross-country and indoor track on the same February weekend. Friday saw the Orange in Tallahassee for the Florida State Winter XC Classic and competing at the Doc Hale Virginia Tech Elite indoor meet.

Racing an 8k cross-country meet in the first weekend in February is unusual and the Orange men struggled down the stretch to finish 8th as a team. Joe Dragon led the way in 23rd place followed by JP Trojan (36th), Silas Derfel (39th), Alex Comerford (43rd), Nathan Henderson (62nd), Matthew Scrape (75th) and Aidan Tooker (88th). Syracuse was in 4th place with 2k to go before dropping back in a race that the Stanford Cardinal won.

The Orange women were led by Amanda Vestri’s 7th place finish in their 6k race. Vestri is likely to earn an individual berth to March’s NCAA Championship meet where she is a candidate for All-American honors. Syracuse ended up 13th with Savannah Roark (58th), Justus Holden-Betts (68th), Abigail Spiers (73rd), Eleanor Lawlor (93rd), Emma Eastman (101st), and Olivia Elston (106th) behind Vestri. The Colorado Buffaloes were the team winners in the women’s race.

On the track in Blacksburg, Syracuse freshman Brevin Sims won the 60m hurdles in a time of 7.97. Isaiah Lewis (4th), Jamil Adams (5th), and Naseem Smith (8th) also placed in the event as once again the Orange have depth in this event. Shaleah Colaire took 6th in the womens 60m hurdles.

In the distance events at Virginia Tech, Jordan Jacob won the women’s 3000m run followed by Rachel Bonner, Reilly Zink and Emma Wilson. It’s good to see Bonner back competing for the first time in over a year. In the men’s 3000m Sam Lawler was 5th with Ethan Wechsler and Joey Eovaldi right behind. In the mile Juliette Keller finished 7th with Garrett Richards 9th in the men’s race.

Syracuse will compete at Clemson next weekend as they gear up for the ACC Indoor Championships at the end of the month.