Syracuse cross-country: Orange men take 10th, women 27th at NCAA Championships

The Syracuse Orange cross-country teams closed out the 2023 season at the NCAA Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday.

Syracuse’s men’s squad finished 9th with 299 points in the race, which was won by Oklahoma State with an incredible 49 points. Perry Mackinnon led the way in 19th place over the 10k course. He was followed by Sam Lawler in 39th giving the Orange two All-American runners for the first time since 2016 (Justyn Knight and Colin Bennie).

Rounding out the NCAA finishers were Assaf Harrari (88th place), Alex Comerford (107th), Nathan Lawler (110th) and Silas Derfel (228th). With top runner Paul O’Donnell at less than 100% the 9th place result was solid for Syracuse. With O’Donnell in a likely top 20-25 spot, the Orange would have been right in the mix for the 4th and final podium spot. Next fall they will need some younger runners to step up to fill the shoes of Mackinnon and O’Donnell.

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For the Orange women, they placed 27th in the race won by NC State. Savannah Roark was the top Syracuse runner in 87th place followed by Rylie Lusk (135th), Sophia Jacobs-Townsley (136th), Olivia Joly (184th), Madison Neuner (194th), Emma Eastman (205th) and Baneet Bains (227th). The Orange will return five of these seven runners next year, so expectations will be raised for the team.