Syracuse cross country’s first challenge: ACC championship

At the bottom of the hill, between Skytop and main campus, lies the home of a team adorned by the backdrop of apricot-colored trees, leafy grass and the nip of a central New York cold.

A team that rises in the chilly early mornings, adorned in tights, long sleeves, mittens and beanies. Then sets in the evenings, meeting in their facility at the bottom of the hill, quietly and humbly. The smack of the pavement and concrete, or the crunch of the dirt during runs on Sweet Road, draining whatever energy they had after class, just to keep up with their mileage. 

A team that goes unnoticed, underappreciated and underpraised. A team that works harder than most can imagine, yet remains one of the best all-around academic successes. A team that conquered the NCAA in 2015, winning a national championship. A team that consistently excels in the postseason, finishing fourth at the national championship just last year. A team that comes together, on those quiet nights, when everyone is away at home in May, just to have a warm teammate-cooked meal of spaghetti bolognese. 

That team is the No. 8-ranked men’s cross country squad in the NCAA, the Syracuse Orange.

The Orange square up for their first challenge of the postseason, the ACC championship, after wrapping up the regular season at the John Reif Memorial at Cornell last week. The championship meet is in Blacksburg, Virginia, on the morning of Friday, Oct. 30. Eighteen teams will compete for the men’s 8K title, and the Orange are the current favorites. The men’s team is currently ranked No. 8 in the nation according to the NCAA rankings, leading the ACC. 

Each of the 18 teams will bring ten athletes to the meet, with seven competing. The meet scores like a golf tournament, with the highest placer scoring the lowest points. The team with the fewest points at the end of the race wins. A winning score will likely fall between 60 and 65 points, Benne Anderson said. 

Anderson, a fourth-year for the Orange, says the team isn’t fazed by the expectations.

“We’re going into it with a mindset to take care of business and get our stuff done,” Anderson said. “We’re really just focusing on ourselves and staying locked in and working together as a team, finishing hard and putting everything out [there].”

There’s no need to think about the competition. When your team has made the national meet seventeen years in a row, head coach Brien Bell is confident in his and his runners’ ability. 

“We never talk about winning. We never talk about the podium; we never talk about trophies,” Bell said. “At times, there probably is a window where the kids might end up talking about it themselves, but they never hear it from the coaching staff or myself.”

Bell worries about the consistency of their work, not the flash or the bang. He understands that as long as they recruit the athletes they want and develop them well, the consistency will bear fruit, he added. 

But what about this year, and this meet? Third-year Ben Gablemen knows they’ve studied well for their Friday exam.

“I think we’re a lot more gritty. I think we’ve worked on hills a lot more than other teams have, which I think favors us in terms of cross country,” Gablemen said. “I think we’ve come in with a lot of experience. We were obviously [on the] podium last year, which gives us that experience of winning and performing well at those big meets.”

A podium finish that had two All-Americans, alumni Peter Walsdorf and Sam Lawler, who still train around the team, focusing on full and half marathons of their own.

The team pairs grit with intelligence. The Orange knows when to hit the gas or tap the brakes. Graduate student Julian Franjieh treats ACCs like any other big race. But their emphasis lies on regionals and nationals, he added.

“Nationals is a big dance, and that’s what we’re focused on,” Franjieh said. “So tapering mileage a little bit for the ACC meet, but keeping the hard workouts hard and the easy days easy.”

The Orange garnered momentum by securing a big win at the Under Armour Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Oct. 16. The Orange beat ranked teams such as No. 12 Villanova and No. 15 Notre Dame. The Orange looks to win its first ACC championship since 2019 this Friday, Oct. 30.