In 2012, the Syracuse men finished 15th in the NCAA national championship. The women didn’t even qualify.

One year later, each team is reveling in the benefits of an extra year of experience from its sophomore runners.

The men, led by redshirt sophomore Martin Hehir, finished the regular season at No. 14 in the country. Resurrected from the depths of collegiate cross-country, the women, led by sophomore Margo Malone, closed out the regular season at No. 19.

In their first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the men captured the conference title, the Northeast Regional Championship and finished 10th at the NCAA national championship. The Orange women finished third in both the ACC championship and regionals, and 22nd at nationals.

And both teams can thank the performance of its sophomores for leading them to postseason success.

“The first year is about learning the ropes,” Hehir said of the current sophomores. “Now is the year everything comes together, and our class came into its own.”

Behind All-ACC performances from Hehir, Robert Molke, Griff Graves, Max Straneva and M.J. Erb, SU captured its second consecutive conference title, last season as members of the Big East. Hehir led the team with a third-place finish.

Two weeks later, the men secured their second postseason victory, this time at regionals. Hehir, Molke, Graves, Ryan Urie, Reed Kamyszek and Joseph Whelan were named to the All-Region team for their performances. Hehir once again led the charge, duplicating his third-place finish.

Going into the NCAA championships, the optimism for the men was as high as ever. The Orange achieved a Top 10 finish, but coming into the race at No. 7 in the country, head coach Chris Fox knew the group didn’t maximize its potential.

“We were on the edge of being pleased. We’ll take it because it’s our first Top 10,” Fox said of his tenure. “But we know we left something out there.”

The women have made a turnaround in the past 12 months. After turning in disappointing results last year, both the coaches and runners came into this season with one common goal: qualify for the big race.

“This year, Margo, Brianna (Nerud), and I all knew what we had to do to go to nationals,” sophomore Meredith Speakman said.

These three, plus junior Jesse Petersen, successfully accomplished the team’s postseason goal, starting with a third-place finish in its ACC championship debut. Malone led the charge with a ninth-place finish, while Speakman also garnered All-ACC honors, finishing 15th.

Facing stiff competition in then-No. 2 Providence and then-No. 12 Dartmouth at regionals, the women finished an expected third. Malone once again led the team with an 11th-place finish, while Speakman finished 19th to place on the All-Region team.

The race they’d all been waiting for, nationals, saw the women slightly underachieve, finishing 22nd after coming in ranked at No. 19. Nonetheless, the season was a triumphant success.

“I can’t tell you how important it was to get back on the national scene,” Fox said. “The girls on the team did a tremendous job to right the ship.”

Looking ahead to next season, the outlook couldn’t be brighter. After exceptional performances from returning runners, Fox said he expects the women to potentially be in the Top 10 and the men possibly in the top three.

“Obviously we’re excited. It’s nice to have those younger guys be up front for us,” assistant coach Adam Smith said. “It’s nice to count on younger guys in big-time races, and hopefully that bodes well for the future of the program.”

Published on December 3, 2013 at 12:30 am

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman