No. 3 Syracuse
Justyn Knight & The Orange: Taking Care of Business (trailer)
Region: 1st at Northeast Region
Conference: 1st at ACC
2016 NCAAs: 3rd
How They Will Win: The Orangemen are returning to the site of their historic 2015 NCAA Division I XC title in Louisville, and that's got to give them an extra mojo boost. The main pieces to the puzzle were big players in the 2015 win and their experience will be key for a return trip to the top of the podium. Barring disaster, top man Justyn Knight will score only one or two points total which gives 'Cuse a big boost. His supporting cast of Colin Bennie and Philo Germano ran about 10 places better at 2015 NCAAs than in 2016 (8th vs. 17th for Bennie; 39th vs. 49th for Germano), so they'll need to rekindle that Tom Sawyer magic.
The emergence of sophomore Aidan Tooker as the consistent No. 3 man behind Knight and Bennie is encouraging; he was even the No. 2 at Nuttycombe, four places ahead of Bennie. The team seems overall much improved since the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, where they edged Stanford and Furman for third place behind NAU and Portland; that race saw 'Cuse's No. 5 more than 60 seconds behind No. 1. But at ACCs and the Northeast Regional, Joe Dragon and true freshman Dominic Hockenbury closed that gap, which will be key to give them a shot at another title.
Conference: 1st at ACC
2016 NCAAs: 3rd
How They Will Win: The Orangemen are returning to the site of their historic 2015 NCAA Division I XC title in Louisville, and that's got to give them an extra mojo boost. The main pieces to the puzzle were big players in the 2015 win and their experience will be key for a return trip to the top of the podium. Barring disaster, top man Justyn Knight will score only one or two points total which gives 'Cuse a big boost. His supporting cast of Colin Bennie and Philo Germano ran about 10 places better at 2015 NCAAs than in 2016 (8th vs. 17th for Bennie; 39th vs. 49th for Germano), so they'll need to rekindle that Tom Sawyer magic.
The emergence of sophomore Aidan Tooker as the consistent No. 3 man behind Knight and Bennie is encouraging; he was even the No. 2 at Nuttycombe, four places ahead of Bennie. The team seems overall much improved since the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, where they edged Stanford and Furman for third place behind NAU and Portland; that race saw 'Cuse's No. 5 more than 60 seconds behind No. 1. But at ACCs and the Northeast Regional, Joe Dragon and true freshman Dominic Hockenbury closed that gap, which will be key to give them a shot at another title.