When Syracuse cross country head coach Chris Fox took over before the 2005 season, he knew the squad needed a lot of work. But he truly believed a couple good years of recruiting could make all the difference to a program considered mediocre at best. He may not have expected to see the underclassmen contribute so much so quickly.

Twenty-five men’s and 24 women’s teams competed at the Spike Shoe Invitational on Saturday at Penn State. SU topped them all, placing first in both races. Fox said he did not think the program had ever won such a big meet in the past.

Syracuse hopes last weekend’s success is just a sign of good things in the future. The Orange’s top two men and top three women at the Spike Shoe are freshmen and sophomores, two classes hoping to start a stretch of success for a program in need of a turnaround.

‘We worked very hard to convince the recruits that we were trying to build a great program,’ Fox said. ‘We were OK to not-so-good before, and we told them that within a year or two we were going to have a really good program.’

Three SU male runners placed in the top 10. Sophomore Jeff Scull finished first overall, clocking in at 25:57.80. Freshman Daniel Busby, the next Syracuse finisher, was ninth overall at 26:26.90. Junior Kyle Heath rounded out SU’s top male finishers, placing 12th at 26:27.00

On the women’s side, sophomore Nana-Sang Bender finished fifth overall at 21:25.60, and freshman Maegan Krifchin came in 10th at 21:57.60. Jenna Bieri, another freshman, finished 12th at 22:07.75.

Krifchin is not surprised to see herself and her classmates leading the pack based on their times in practice, and is especially happy with how close the freshmen on the team are with one another.

‘There definitely is a bond between the freshmen,’ she said. ‘We have become good friends. They are really cool people.’

Even though some of the best runners are the youngest, Fox emphasized that the older team members still are the emotional leaders and the best player is not necessarily the best leader.

Junior Liz Cufari and fifth-year senior Chris Muldoon, who both finished fourth in their respective races this weekend, are still two of the best runners on and off the course because they ‘buy into and want what’s best for the program,’ Fox said.

‘I think the older kids are OK with everything because we have a good team,’ Krifchin said. ‘They are a really big influence on us and they are just happy to see how well we are doing right now.’

Fox had high expectations for the meet, recognizing he would have been disappointed if SU finished worse than second. At the same time, though, he downplayed its overall importance, calling it just another step on the road eventually leading to the NCAA Regional on Nov. 11.

‘Like the football team beating Miami (Ohio), there are still West Virginias and Louisvilles out there for us to beat,’ he said. ‘We beat Penn State, which is a feather in our cap, but we have much bigger fish to fry.’

Published on September 25, 2006 at 12:00 pm