Cross Country Completes Best Season in 20 Years
12/10/2002 3:17:51 PM | Cross Country, Track and Field
The Orangewomen boasted two team titles, along with a pair of individual titles for senior Aleccia Boland. Boland was Syracuse’s top finisher in five of the seven races she competed in, including Orange Classic and Gardner-Webb victories. Senior Maria Varela was SU’s top runner at the BIG EAST Championship (47th place), and senior Zelma Jackson finished 24th for the Orangewomen at the ECAC Championship.
Bitok led the Orangemen to two-straight meet wins early in the season, at Syracuse’s Orange Classic, and at Gardner-Webb. Bitok was the individual champion at both events, then went on to win the Albany Invitational, where the Orangemen finished seventh of 22 teams.
Bitok continued his success at the BIG EAST Championship and at the NCAA Regional, turning in two top-10 finishes. An eighth-place performance at the BIG EAST meet earned Bitok a spot on the All-BIG EAST Team, making him the first Syracuse runner to achieve that distinction since 1987 (Merrick Jones). His ninth-place finish at the NCAA Regional was just shy of the qualifying time for the NCAA Championship. Bitok finished the season by capturing the IC4A Championship Division title after winning the University Division in 2001. He is the first Orangeman to win the Championship Division since 1919, and the first since 1990 to win the University Division.
“This was a break-out season for John,” cross country coach Jay Hartshorn said. “But this is just the beginning for him. His accomplishments this season will be dwarfed in terms of what he’s going to do in indoors and outdoors over the next two years.”
The Orangemen’s 8th place team finish at the BIG EAST Championship was their best since 1994. Part of the credit for the men’s team’s success this season was due to sophomore Tim Scarpinato, who was SU’s first or second runner in every race he ran. Scarpinato finished third in the first race of the year, at Central Connecticut State’s Blue Devil Invitational. He finished second at both the Orange Classic and at Gardner-Webb. At the BIG EAST meet, he finished 37th out of 116 runners.
“It wasn’t just our top finishers that made the team successful this year,” Hartshorn said. “Our underclassmen came in ready to compete, and they were a big part of the team’s success. The season was just one step along the way to being a really successful team in years to come.”
With the fall season in the history books, the Syracuse cross country team now switches gears. The student-athletes began the indoor track season on Dec. 7 at the Cornell Relays. Syracuse next competes at the USTCA Series at Penn State on Saturday, Jan. 18.
