Syracuse cross-country: Orange men roll at Penn State, women take 2nd

The Syracuse Orange cross-country teams went to the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational to begin the 2023 NCAA season.

The #11 men’s squad had four of the top five finishers, and placed seven runners in the top ten as they easily out-paced the rest of the field. Cornell transfer Perry Mackinnon got the win in his Syracuse debut, just edging out Sam Lawler. Both finished with a time of 25:31. Paul O’Donnell and Assaf Harari followed close behind with Alex Comerford wrapping up the scoring with a 6th-place finish.

The Syracuse women took second place behind host Penn State. Sophia Jacobs-Townsley was 2nd overall and Rylie Lusk (6th), Emma Eastman (8th), Olivia Joly (9th) and Madeline Heintz (16th) were the other Orange scorers. We should see top runner Savannah Roark at Syracuse’s next meet in two weeks at Virginia.

This next meet being held at the site of the NCAA Championships should bring out some strong competition and give the Orange a bit of an idea of where they stand before they head to Wisconsin next month.

The top team teams in each region automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, but at-large bids are determined by points for beating other NCAA teams. These next two meets will be opportunities to earn at-large points before the ACC Championships.