Syracuse Men Are Runners Up in Beantown
‘Cuse traveled to Boston Friday for the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown. The Orange men finished second to nationally ranked No. 6 Arkansas, while the Orange women placed seventh out of 22 teams.
Leading the men along the 8,000-meter course, senior Joe Dragon finished third overall behind a pair of runners from Arkansas in a time of 24:09. Right behind him, senior JP Trojan crossed the line in a time of 24:12. Junior Nathan Henderson (24:24) and Aiden Tooker (24:42) rounded out the top-20 by placing 12th and 19th respectively.
Syracuse’s fifth scorer, senior Brody Smith (24:52) finished 22nd, followed close behind by teammates Alex Comerford (24:58/26th) and Noah Beveridge (25:02/30th).
The Syracuse men remain second behind Iona in the NCAA DI Men’s Northeast Region rankings, but with Iona not racing this weekend, the rank may change.
For the women, senior Amanda Vestri led ‘Cuse to a seventh-place team finish along the 5,000-meter course, crossing the line runner-up behind North Carolina freshman Brynn Brown in a time of 17:01.
Freshman Sage Brooks was Syracuse’s second finisher (17:57/36th), followed by senior Annie Boos (18:04/41st), freshman Savannah Roark (18:05/43rd) and junior Abigail Spiers (18:06/44th).
Sophomore Sophia Jacobs-Townsle (18:07) and junior Holly Bent (18:19) finished 46th and 53rd respectively.
The Syracuse women came into the meet ranked fourth in the NCAA DI Women’s Northeast Region rankings, but a huge shake up is due as all top-five teams battled it out in Beantown.
In addition to the men and women’s races, ‘Cuse had four men in the top five of the open 5k. Sophomore Matthew Scrape won the race in a time of 15:18, followed behind him was teammate, senior Jack Whetstone (15:45) in second. Freshman Kevin Robertson and sophomore Nathan Lawler crossed the finish line 4th and 5th with times of 15:48 and 15:49 respectively.
Senior Emily Lane was the first woman finisher in the open 5k, finishing in a time of 18:29.
The Orange will race again Friday Oct. 15, either at Penn State for the PSU National Opener, or Wisconsin, at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.