No. 3 Syracuse Men and No. 8 Providence Women Crush Competition at 2015 Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown

By Jonathan Gault
September 25, 2015

BOSTON — On paper, the No. 3 Syracuse men and No. 8 Providence women were by far the best teams entered at the 2015 Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown at Franklin Park (the No. 4 Georgetown women rested top runners Haley Pierce and Sarah Cotton) and they certainly acted like it this afternoon, engineering two dominant displays to take the team titles on a beautiful early-fall day. The Orange used a 1-3-4-6 finish, led by individual champion Justyn Knight (23:51) to tally just 24 points, putting seven men into the top 17 overall. That was more than enough to outdistance runner-up Dartmouth (Editor’s note: The author is a Dartmouth alum), who used a 16-second spread to take second with 67 points.

On the women’s side, the individual title went to junior Christina Melian of Stony Brook who prevailed in a late kick over Syracuse’s Margo Malone, 16:50 to 16:51. Providence went 3-4-7 up front to waltz to the team title, scoring 42 to runner-up Syracuse’s 127. Brief race recaps, results and interviews below.

Men’s Race

Like last year, the men’s race went out relatively conservatively (4:45 and 5:00 for the first two miles) as no one tried to push the pace early. As the field entered the Wilderness section for the second time shortly after 5 kilometers, the Syracuse trio of Knight, Martin Hehir and Colin Bennie began to push the pace and the field started to string out as Purdue All-American Matt McClintock and Cornell’s Ben Rainero (3:45 pb) were the only ones to go with them. McClintock pushed coming down Bear Cage Hill and as he made the turn into the finishing straight, only Knight was with him. Knight, a 3:39 1500-meter man, had an extra gear and gapped McClintock to take the win in 23:51. McClintock came in two seconds later with Hehir and Bennie crossing together in 23:54.

Results and quick takes below.

Men’s individual results (courtesy TFRRS)

Team scores

Quick Take #1: Syracuse coach Chris Fox believes this is the best team he’s ever coached

Fox expected a strong showing from top guns Knight and Hehir and wasn’t surprised to see Bennie at the front either as he believes the sophomore has made tremendous progress after running 13:53 on the track last year. But what pleased Fox most was strong runs from #4 man Joel Hubbard (7th, 24:10) and #5 Dan Lennon (10th, 24:16), who were 31st and 20th, respectively, last year. He also said that SU’s sixth and seventh men today, sophomores Philo Germano and Sean Wilson, ran their best collegiate races.

“Overall it was great,” Fox said. “No complaints today.”

Fox said it’s a bit different this year as this team enters the season with some impressive track PBs (Knight and Hehir have run 13:34 and 13:35; Bennie has run 13:53, Lennon has run 28:46 and Hubbard has run 4:00) whereas in years past his team knew they were ready fit but didn’t have the track pedigree to back it up. With the right talent and approach in place, the hope in Central New York is that this is the year Syracuse breaks its 57-year podium drought.

“They’re very professional,” Fox said. “It’s a group of guys that runs like they’re pros. They live the lifestyle, they’re smart about what they do. There’s no goofing around.”

Quick Take #2: Justyn Knight could be the next Canadian star

Fox praised his top runner, calling him “the next great Canadian” and when you factor in what Knight’s done in just over a year at Syracuse, it’s hard to disagree. He ran 3:39 and 13:34 on the track last spring and finished 25th at junior World XC. Today, Knight looked comfortable streaking away from McClintock and confirmed that he “definitely had more in the tank” at the end of the race.

What’s scary about Knight is that he’s done all this running less mileage than a lot of high schoolers. Fox said Knight was running 35 miles per week last year and though he’s up to 50-60 mpw now (often in six days) he hasn’t done a run longer than 70 minutes, though Knight will occasionally get in 17 to 18 miles on a workout day when you factor in his second run (Knight began doubling this year) and the warmup/cooldown.

Fox said that Knight would be able to handle 90 miles per week right now but doesn’t see the need to increase the volume drastically with the success Knight has had.

“He’s a young guy and he came from such a low-mileage [background] that we’ll just do 10 more [miles per week] a year,” Fox said.

MB: So sick: Syracuse’s Justyn Knight ran 3:39 and 13:34 on 35 mpw

We also caught up with Knight’s teammate, Martin Hehir (pronounced heh-heer), who took third overall. Hehir said that every day there are five to seven guys together in workouts, which makes for a fun atmosphere at practices. Hehir also said that in the past he’s underperformed at NCAAs in XC (he was 122nd in 2012, 113th in 2013 and 38th last year but owns track PBs of 13:35 and 28:27) so he’s hoping to make amends in this, his redshirt senior season.

Quick Take #3: A great showing from the Dartmouth men

Dartmouth was unranked nationally entering this meet (in fact, the Big Green didn’t receive a single vote in the most recent USTFCCCA coaches’ poll) and was only sixth in the Northeast Region, behind fellow Ivies Cornell (4th) and Columbia (5th). But the men from Hanover used a tight pack to cluster six men between 8th and 22nd and beat out Purdue (who should also move up from 12th in the Great Lakes Region) and Cornell for second behind Syracuse. The field today wasn’t particularly strong (#26 Florida State bombed without prospective top man Harry Mulenga, finishing 7th) so we’ll have to wait to see just how good Dartmouth is, but coach Barry Harwick was certainly happy with today’s performance.

Quick Take #4: The No. 26 Florida State men aren’t going to be ranked for much longer

The Seminoles ran poorly today. They didn’t run stud juco transfer Harry Mulenga and 8:34 steepler Zak Seddon, who won the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational last weekend, was only 94th overall. As a result, FSU tumbled to seventh overall. A disappointing showing, to say the least.

Still, all may not be lost in Tallahassee. The South Region is incredibly weak (apart from FSU, only No. 13 Ole Miss received votes in the most recent coaches’ poll) with Middle Tennessee State ranked #3 in the region as of now. Two teams automatically qualify from each region, so Florida State will hope to grab that second auto spot. The teams that beat them today will be rooting for FSU at regionals as well, as they would earn at-large points should the Seminoles qualify.

Women’s Race

After running 5:13 and 5:32 for the first two miles (mile 2 included Bear Cage Hill), the women’s race really got going in mile three as Stony Brook’s Christina Melian and Syracuse’s Margo Malone led a pack of five women (including Sarah Collins and Catarina Rocha of Providence and Courtney Smith of Harvard) through the Wilderness. As the leaders began their loop of the main field with approximately 400 meters to go, Melian and Malone had opened a gap of a few meters with Collins, Rocha and Smith trying in vain to hang on. Melian kept pushing and Malone finally cracked in the final 100 meters, allowing Melian a small gap. That was all the junior would need as she earned the win in 16:50, a second in front of Malone. Rocha, who moved up steadily throughout the race, took third, just ahead of teammate Collins, while Smith wound up fifth.

Resulst and quick takes below.

Women’s individual results (courtesy TFRRS)