Etrain Team Power Rankings: #3 Syracuse Orange

By: Garrett Zatlin

Reminder of the list so far...

#25 Eastern Michigan Eagles

#24 Penn State Nittany Lions

#23 Minnesota Gophers

#22 Cornell Bears
#21 Furman Paladins
#20 Florida State Seminoles

#19 Colorado State Rams

#18 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes

#17 NC State Wolfpack

#16 Penn Quakers

#15 Virginia Tech Hokies

#14 UCLA Bruins

#13 BYU Cougars

#12 Louisville Cardinals

#11 Michigan Wolverines

#10 Virginia Cavaliers

#09 Oregon Ducks

#08 Oklahoma State Cowboys

#07 Iona Gaels

#06 Mississippi Rebels

#05 Villanova Wildcats

#04 Wisconsin Badgers

#03 Syracuse Orange 

#02 Stanford Cardinals
#01 Colorado Buffalos

3. Syracuse Orange

Flotrack’s #3: Syracuse Orange

Coach: Chris Fox

Notable Departures: MJ Erb, Max Straneva, Reed Kamyszek
Notable Additions: Kevin James, Griffin Molino, Adam Palamer (transfer)

Projected Scoring Five: Martin Hehir (SR) [ET#14], Justyn Knight (SO) [ET#21], Joel Hubbard (JR) [ET#30], Dan Lennon (SR) [ET#38], Colin Bennie (SO) [ET#42]

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Syracuse is my favorite team of the 2015 season (as you can tell by my top 50 rankings). I am a huge fan of Hehir and Knight. I considered them the best track duo not named Cheserek and Jenkins this past spring. They’ve got an experienced group that is full of firepower and established depth that can step up in times of need. I am very eager to watch what they do in the fall.

Syracuse entered last season ranked as the 8^th best team in the nation, but the men in orange were not content with staying there. Proving everyone wrong and getting on podium was their only goal. Coach Fox took his team to State College where they would race teams like Penn State and Georgetown at the Harry Groves invite. Guys like Hehir, Knight, Stravena, and Erb would sit out and give some of the other guys their time to shine. Even with so many of their top guys out, Syracuse held their own and placed second overall, giving Penn State the win. 'Cuse would finish only 6 points out from the Lions and still defeat a strong Georgetown team that was running completely stacked. That had to be a good confidence booster for Orangemen. Still, there was work to be done and Beantown would be the next stop where the full power of Syracuse would be on full display. Syracuse would leave New York and walk into Boston with teams like Oregon and Providence who were also ready to make their opening season statement. Oregon did just that by taking the top two spots and putting all five of their scorers in the top 10. Syracuse simply couldn’t respond to the Duck's firepower. Hehir placed 4^th overall and was complemented by Kamyszek and Straneva who placed 8^th and 9^th respectively. Unfortunately, Lennon and Erb failed to stay with the seniors and finished 15^th and 16^th overall. Syracuse would end up with 52 points in all and placed second to Oregon who had a surprising 24 points. Despite the runner-up performance, it was still a great race for the Orange and there were many good things to take away. However, they would need to close that gap between Oregon if they wanted to have a chance to get on the podium come post-season. 'Cuse would go back to work and patiently wait for another three weeks until they would have a chance to show what they were truly made of. That chance would come at the Wisconsin Adidas Invite and they took full advantage of it. The Orangemen burned the loaded field by placing three in the top 20 (Hehir-7^th, Knight-14^th, Stravena-17^th). Although Hehir was establishing himself as a national contender, the real story was about a  little-known freshman named Justyn Knight who sent a message to the entire NCAA with his 14^th place finish. He had our attention now. Erb and Lennon would place 23^rd and 25^th respectively and end the team scoring at 85 total points. Syracuse kept it together and crushed the second place team (Iona) by a hefty 69 points and left third place (Wisconsin) in the dust (91 points away). It seemed like those three weeks of grind had paid off. Syracuse was the now the team to watch heading into the post-season. They had gone from being ranked 8^th, to 6^th, to now 3^rd and seemed to be the team on the biggest hot-streak. Could anyone at ACC’s or regionals end that? ACC’s wouldn’t be much different from Wisconsin as the Orangemen cruised through the conference with Hehir taking the individual title. Stravena was a surprise third place while Knight and Hubbard continued their season-long improvements by finishing 8^th and 9^th overall. Erb would once again be the reliable fifth man and end the scoring at 11^th place overall. Syracuse walked through the conference and took the title with an impressive 32 points. At the rate they were going, no one was going to stop the Orange…but it would be close. Northeast regionals was essentially a three-way battle between 'Cuse, Providence and Iona. It was very likely that only three NCAA bids would be given to this region, and it seemed pretty obvious that these were the three teams to do it. During the race, Syracuse took a conservative approach and kept their pack tight. Hehir, Hubbard, Lennon and Erb all crowded spots 6 through 9 with Bennie was a little ways off in 15^th. Easy win, right? Not quite. Providence put three of their own guys in front of Hehir and put their 4^th man ahead of Bennie. Luckily for Syracuse, Providence’s fifth man (Liam Hillery) couldn’t quite hang and dropped to 23^rd giving Syracuse the lead, the win, and the title. The score read 45 to 48 and Providence deserved some credit for coming close to the team that had been crushing some of the biggest names out there. For Syracuse, it was a wake-up call to be more careful next time. However, being careful was not an option anymore. NCAA’s had finally arrived and it was time to leave everything out there. The title was obviously the goal, but with Colorado looking impossible to beat (even on a bad day), getting on the podium became the most emphasized expectation. Terre Haute was cold and the ground was hard from being iced over in the past week. It would not be an easy race for any team. Syracuse took to the course and looked to have multiple-low place finishes that would give the Orange enough of a bump to get on the podium. Hehir would need to lead the team with a top 20 finish…but he didn’t. Knight would need to be an All-American…but he wasn’t. Bennie would need to stay close to the pack as a reliable fifth man…but he failed. Nothing seemed to go quite the way that the Orange had planned. Hehir still got an All-American spot, but only barely. He placed 38^th which was behind his teammate Erb who placed 37^th. The freshmen jitters got to Knight and Bennie. Bennie fell off the pack and dropped all the way to 95^th, which was 40 spots away from Lennon (fourth man). Knight, on the other hand, wasn’t as fortunate to place in top 100 and settled for a disappointing 143^rd place finish. Despite the top four taking 37^th, 38^th, 42^nd, and 45^th, the sub-par performances took their toll and kept Syracuse off the podium with a 5^th place team finish. They missed it by just 18 points.

Out of all the teams, I’m looking most forward to watching Syracuse. I became a huge fan of Hehir and Knight this past spring as they dominated nearly every event they ran in. They are incredibly fun to watch and keep things entertaining. Last season, Knight showed off his talent by placing 14^th at Wisconsin. His inexperience, however, showed at NCAA’s. It was clear that he had potential, but he needed some time to mature to the collegiate scene. That wait for maturity was only a season as Knight exploded into the NCAA running times like 3:39 (1500), 3:59 (Mile), and 13:34 (5k). The kid was unstoppable. But of course, who else better than Hehir to lead the way for the youngster? Hehir ran excellent at so many meets last season like at ACC’s where he unexpectedly won the title. Still, he can also improve at other meets like Wisconsin, and NCAA’s. I believe that Hehir and Knight will continue to feed off of each other and become the best running duo in the NCAA. They are just that good. Of course, when we talk about Knight, we need to talk about Colin Bennie who was often left in the shadows of Knight despite his strong performances. The freshman was a consistent top scorer who wasn’t afraid to mix it up with the big dogs of the NCAA. He executed his race plan every meet (except NCAA’s) and became a guy that clearly showed that he could be a scorer. Yet, exactly like Knight, his poor nationals race indicated that he still had some maturing to do. A 13:53 5k PR seemed to be a pretty good sign of that. He is one guy very high on my radar and I expect him to be an All-American, no doubt. While the youngsters are great, I’m also happy about the older guys that will lead this team. Hubbard and Lennon will be great experienced leaders who will continue to be reliable scorers. Hubbard had a great post-season in 2014. If he can start off where he was last season, then the potential of this team becomes scary good. Be that as it may, Lennon is still probably one of the best 4^th/5^th man scorers in the nation this season. I say that mainly because he is extremely reliable. In fact, he’s so reliable to the point that he never had a bad day at any race last year and except for ACC’s, he was a scorer in every meet he ran in. That is true experience at it’s best. I’m eager to see if the senior can make any more improvements and drop the team score. Honestly, I’m not banking on him to do that. But if he can, then this team may be better than 3rd. Of course, it would be wrong of me not to point out the glaring departure of MJ Erb who will now be running for Mississippi. He was a huge loss and a guy that could make Syracuse a threat (emphasis on threat) to become the best team in the nation. His presence as an X-factor will be greatly missed. However, there is still plenty of depth outside of the top five that could still somehow mix it up. Tulsa transfer, Adam Palamer, has a 3:38 1500 PR to his name. Although, that speed doesn’t necessarily translate to the grass, it will still be extremely helpful to have another veteran name around on a team that has some top individuals on the younger side. I'm also liking Kevin Hoyos and I think he could surprise many. He did very well at some 'B-team' invites so hopefully he can take that next step. Also look out for PA alum like Kevin James and Joe Kush. James fits right into this system while Kush has been in this program for a very long time. Both can be valuable assets to a loaded Syracuse team.

Flotrack also placed Syracuse at #3 and there’s no surprise there. Knight and Bennie showed that they are incredibly talented individuals this past spring, but they just need to show it first in the fall before anyone can have them contending with the #2 team in the rankings. There’s also questions as to who could be the 5^th man if someone were to get injured. Some very minor uncertainties seem to be the only reason why Syracuse is at this spot.