The more well-known names like Justyn Knight, Colin Bennie and Philo Germano seemingly give Syracuse’s No. 4 cross country team a chance to a win a national title every season. But the absence of a clear fifth runner could pose a problem for the team’s future success.

Without a clear fifth runner, Syracuse finished third at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Oct. 13, the only time when the team did not finish first this season.

Head coach Chris Fox was impressed by the first four runners who placed within the top 35 — Aidan Tooker rounding out the top four — but said the fifth, sixth and seventh runners needed improvement.

“If you’re off a little in a meet of that caliber, it shows,” Fox said, “You can fake it through some other meets, but it’s hard to do that when there is 20 of the 30 best teams competing.”

Fox compared a couple of disappointing performances at Wisconsin to the play of baseball players, and how they will not always go “two-for-three every night.” With that, he believed the team still has a lot of options for a future fifth runner.

On Oct. 13, redshirt freshman Joseph Dragon was SU’s fifth runner, placing 95th. He was slated as the fifth man for Syracuse before Knight’s return from injury, but has still looked to contribute in some capacity.

“I want to be running at NCAA’s with these guys,” Dragon said. “At the least, I want to be in that six or seventh spot in case something goes wrong.”

Other possible options for its fifth man includes sophomore Kevin James, who placed 191st at the Nuttycombe Invitational. James attributed the lackluster performance on a lengthy sickness, but he still felt that he can be a runner to “step up and close the gap.”

James placed 116th at the NCAA Championships last year and said earlier this season that his “reach goals” were to fight for an All-American spot and improve on his spotlight performances from 2016.

“We need someone to place in the top 50s for nationals from the back-end crew,” James said. “I’m looking to lead that crew.”

Fox also pointed toward redshirt freshman Dominic Hockenbury as a future scorer for the team. Hockenbury finished 13th in the ‘B’ race at Wisconsin.

“Any day, I could be a fifth man for this team,” said Hockenbury, “I’m always looking to move up and make a difference.”

With a considerable amount of options available for a fifth runner, Fox does not feel fazed after his team’s third place finish at Wisconsin.

“We need to get one guy to start running well,” Fox said, “It was disappointing that some of those guys didn’t run better, but it’s only October and we’re OK.”

Published on October 24, 2017 at 8:01 pm

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman