Orange Claims First BIG EAST Title
11/2/2009 4:57:52 PM | Cross Country
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The Orange cross country teams returned to Syracuse after the men took home the BIG EAST Championship crown for the first time in Syracuse history on Saturday, Oct. 31. The women's team placed third at the conference Championship, marking the highest finish for both teams.
"It was the first BIG EAST Championship in the history of Syracuse University," said head coach Chris Fox. "We went from last five years ago to first, so we're pretty pleased with what's transpired on the men's side and the women's side. They were third, which is the highest finish ever for Syracuse, too."
The men's team upset the defending national champion, No. 10 Georgetown to capture the title. Sophomore Pat Dupont led the Orange with the team's fastest time of 24:51, placing fourth overall. Five runners on the championship team were among the first 15 athletes to cross the finish line. Syracuse's 55 points beat Georgetown by a narrow six point margin, while Villanova came in third with 76 points. It was the team's highest BIG EAST finish since it placed third in 1980.
"The big breakthrough race was for Pat Dupont, he's from Rochester," Fox said. "He ran an incredible race, he's only a sophomore and he was fourth overall in what is the best conference in the country in our sport."
On the women's side, the No. 10 Orange placed third after No. 2 Villanova and No. 4 West Virginia. Junior Katie Hursey was the first Syracuse runner to finish and placed eighth overall with a time of 21:30. The highest the women ever finished at the BIG EAST Championship was in 2007, when they placed fourth.
"We knew we could be third, fourth or fifth," Fox said. "We couldn't have been better than that probably. The teams that beat us, Villanova and West Virginia, are ranked second and fourth in the country. We had never beat Georgetown and they were ranked in the top 10, and we had never beat Providence either, so those were two real traditional powers in our sport and we were able to beat both of them. It was a bit of a surprise, but it's what we wanted."
Both squads have reached their highest peak in history in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association poll this season. The women are currently No. 10, while the No. 14 men have climbed as high as No. 11 in week two after winning the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational.
"Both teams will be ranked top 10 in the country by tonight and that will be the first time ever for Syracuse," Fox said.
The Orange will take a week off before traveling to Boston, Mass. for the NCAA Northeast Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 14.
