Syracuse Men Ready to Defend Title

NCAA Championship
Meet Details	Saturday, Nov. 18 \| Terre Haute, Ind.
Meet Coverage	Live Results: Stats Live Video: Watch Twitter: @CuseXCTF
Men's Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| 2016 Results \| Notes

Back to Back Goals
- The Syracuse men's cross country team enters the meet looking to repeat as National Champions having won the NCAA Title last season.
- The Orange's 2015 title is the second in program history, after winning the National Championship in 1951 as well.
- Four of Syracuse's top-five finishers from last year's NCAA Championship return, with All-American Martin Hehir being the long competitor to graduate from the Syracuse scoring.

Ranking the Orange
- The Syracuse men enter the NCAA Championship ranked at No. 5 in the USTFCCCA's poll.
- Syracuse hasn't been ranked outside of the top-six since the 2013 season.
- Cuse has also been ranked No. 1 in each of the past two seasons.

About the NCAA Championship
- The meet will take place at the Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana.
- The site is the same that the men placed fifth at in the 2014 NCAA National Championship.
- The men will compete in a 10k beginning at Noon.
- The race will be shown on NCAA.com

NCAA Championship History
- Last year's NCAA Championship was a historic event for the program, marking the second title in the history of the school.
- However, it was also the first time the team had reached the podium since 1957.
- Under head coach Chris Fox, the Orange have turned back into a program of national relevance, something that 'Cuse hadn't experienced since the 1950s. A top-10 finish would be the fourth-straight for the Orange, a top-five finish would be the third-straight.
- Five current members of the Orange raced in last year's NCAA Championship meet, while three were part of the 2014 race.

We're Going Streaking
-Winning the ACC Championship, the Syracuse men tied the third-longest streak for consecutive ACC men's cross country titles.
-Only Maryland (6; 1964-69) and NC State (5; 1995-99) have longer streaks than the Orange's four. The mark ties North Carolina (1960-63), Clemson (1980-83) and NC State's (2001-04) streaks.
-Syracuse's Conference titles streak is at five total, dating back to the 2012 BIG EAST Championship in the team's final year in the league.
-It's also the Orange's seventh conference title in eight seasons after winning the 2009 and 2010 BIG EAST Championships as well before starting the current streak.

Regional Titles Too
- The Syracuse men have also won four-straight NCAA Northeast Regional Championships after this year's performance.
- Head coach Chris Fox has seen his programs win 10 regional championships, including seven from the men's program.
- The seven men's titles have all come in the past-eight seasons.

Knight Time
- Junior Justyn Knight has put on a show in his first four meets of 2016.
- The Vaughan, Ontario native has been twice named USTFCCCA Performed of the Week after winning both the Panorama Farms Invitational and the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.
- With his victory at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship, Justyn Knight became the first member of the Orange since 1982 to win four individual meets in the same season. Jim O'Connell was the last member of the Orange to do so, winning the first four meets of the 1982 season.
- Knight finished fourth at last season's NCAA Championship to lead all Syracuse runners.
- Adam Palamar was also honored after he won the John Reif Memorial.

Orange Earn Regional Awards
- For the fourth consecutive season, head coach Chris Fox has earned USTFCCCA Men's Coach of the Year honors.
- Justyn Knight also earned regional recognition, being named USTFCCCA Northeast Region Men's Performer of the Year for the second straight year.
- Knight is the first Syracuse student-athlete to win the award multiple times and joins Iona's Leonard Korir (2010, 2011) and Richard Kiplagat (2003, 2005), as well as Providence's Keith Kelly (1998, 2000) as the only men to win the award in multiple seasons.
- Knight is just the second Syracuse student-athlete to win the award, following up Katie Zaferes, formerly Katie Hursey, who won the honor in 2009. Hursey represented the United States in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this summer, competing in the triathalon.

All-ACC Recognition
-Syracuse's top seven runners received All-ACC accolades following the team's victory in the ACC Championship.
-Justyn Knight and Colin Bennie earned the award for their third time each, having both done so in 2014 and 2015 as well.
-Joel Hubbard (2014) and Philo Germano (2015) earned their second All-ACC honors.
-Iliass Aouani, Adam Visokay, and Kevin James also received recognition, marking the first all-conference awards for each.

All-Region Recognition
- After winning the Northeast Regional, Syracuse's top-six runners received All-Region honors: Iliass Aouani, Colin Bennie, Philo Germano, Joel Hubbard, Justyn Knight, and Adam Visokay.
-The Orange's six honorees tied No. 22 Middle Tennessee and No. 26 Navy for the top mark in the country.
-Twelve teams, including the Orange, placed their entire starting lineup in the top-25 of their respective regions.

Orange at the NCAA Championships
-Colin Bennie, Justyn Knight, and Joel Hubbard will all race in their third National Championship this weekend, while Philo Germano will return to the title meet for the second consecutive year.
-In 2014, Bennie finished fifth for the Orange and 95th overall with a time of 31:30.0. Knight and Hubbard did not score for the Orange, placing 143rd and 165th respectively.
-Last year, Knight placed fourth overall (29:46.1), while Colin Bennie also logged a top-10 finish, placing eighth (29:55.9). Germano finished fourth for the Orange, and 39th overall (30:29.8), while Hubbard rounded out Syracuse's scoring finishing 47th (30:31.5).

Orange in Terre Haute
-Terre Haute is familiar territory for the Orange, as the team ran to its first top-five finish in nearly 60 years at the site during the 2014 National Championship.
- Then-redshirt-freshman Colin Bennie, placed fifth amongst the Orange and 95th overall with a time of 31:30.0 to round out the team's scoring.
-Justyn Knight, a freshman at the time, and Joel Hubbard, a redshirt sophomore at the time, also ran, placing 143rd and 165th to finish sixth and seventh for Syracuse.

Bennie's Breakout Year
-Colin Bennie returns to the National Championship following a breakout 2015 campaign which was capped off with an eighth-place finish in the national title meet.
-Last season, Bennie ran in six races, placing in the top-10 in all of them and the top-5 in four of them. Bennie won the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational and placed second in the NCAA Regionals, behind teammate Justyn Knight.
-This season, Bennie has run in four races, including three top-10 finishes. For the second straight year, Bennie placed second at the NCAA Regionals behind Knight.

Germano Closes for Title
-Philo Germano's heroic finish at last year's NCAA Championship sealed the Orange's first National Championship in 64 years.
-Passing 14 runners in the final 2k, Germano finished the course in 30:29.8. The time ranked 39^th overall and fourth among the Orange, with the late push ultimately serving as the team's deciding factor. Germano earned All-America accolades for the performance.

Talented Transfers
-This year's Orange features two impact transfers: Iliass Aouani and Adam Visokay.
-Aouani has run in five races for the Orange, placing in the top-10 three times. In his first race, Aouani led Syracuse and placed first overall in the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational (26:17.1). Aouani also had a top-10 finish at the NCAA Regionals, placing seventh overall and third among the Orange.
-Visokay has run in five races as well, placing in the top-25 in three of them. At the NCAA Regionals, Visokay ran to his best overall finish of the season, placing 15th (30:52.3).

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Iliass Aouani

Colin Bennie

Philo Germano

Martin Hehir

Joel Hubbard

Kevin James

Justyn Knight

Adam Palamar

Adam Visokay

Syracuse University Athletics