Men Try for 4th-Straight League Title, Women Seek 1st ACC Crown Friday

The No. 2 Syracuse men and No. 16 women will take on the ACC Cross Country Championships on Friday, with the men looking for their fourth-straight conference title and sixth in seven years, and the women seek their first ACC Championship.

Ranking the Orange
- The Syracuse men enter the ACC Championship with its highest ranking in program history at No. 2, which Syracuse has been slotted at for the majority of this year.
- Prior to this season, the Orange had only reached No. 2 once previously and that was in the pre-NCAA Championships poll last season.
- The women enter the weekend ranked No. 16. It's the second-straight year the Orange women enter the ACC Championships ranked 16th.
- The men have been ranked No. 1 in the Northeast region for every week of the season, while the women enter the meet ranked second.

Defending their Crown
- The Syracuse men won the ACC title in each of their first-two years in the conference.
- Dating back to its days in the BIG EAST, Syracuse has won three-straight conference titles and five in the last-six seasons, with a 4th place finish in 2011 as the only exception in the streak.
- Syracuse returns five All-ACC performers from last year's race, led by defending champion Martin Hehir. Justyn Knight (8th), Joel Hubbard (9th), Colin Bennie (13th) and Dan Lennon (15th) all are looking for repeat All-ACC performances.

Hehir Takes the Titles
- Martin Hehir has won two individual conference championships in his time with the Orange.
- The fifth-year senior won the 2012 BIG EAST individual title as a redshirt freshman and 2014 ACC title last season. He has podiumed every year in a conference title meet, finishing third in 2013 at the ACC Championships.
- Hehir is looking to become the first Syracuse runner to earn all-conference honors in four seasons.

Knight Time
- While Hehir will go down as the most decorated distance runner in Syracuse history, standout sophomore Justyn Knight has been out-kicking Hehir at the end of races this season.
- Knight has been Syracuse's top finisher in each of its two races where the Orange ran its full roster.
- He won the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown and was Syracuse's top-finisher (second overall) at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational.
- Knight is looking to win his second ACC title, after taking the 5k crown at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships (also at Florida State) in 2015. He earned First Team All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in the event as well.

Bennie Blossoming
- The success of sophomore Colin Bennie may be the brightest spot on the Orange thus far as he has had a strong second season running for the Orange.
- He won the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational in his first meet of the season and earned USTFCCCA Performer of the Week Honors for it.
- He followed it up with two top-six finishes after placing fourth at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown and sixth at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational.
- The success comes on the heels of earning All-America honors in the 5k last season.

Malone Looking for Another Top-10
- Junior Margo Malone was the women's top finisher for Syracuse last season at the ACC Championships, finishing 9th overall.
- She finished the course last season in 20:37.6.

Action is scheduled to get underway with the women's race at 9 a.m. on Friday.

Men Try for 4th-Straight League Title, Women Seek 1st ACC Crown Friday

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Players Mentioned

Colin Bennie

Martin Hehir

Joel Hubbard

Justyn Knight

Dan Lennon

Margo Malone

Syracuse University Athletics