The Syracuse men’s cross country teams had one of its most successful seasons in recent history in 2006. The Orange finished first in each of its four regular season races, sported four All-Region runners and received its first ever votes in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national poll.

Yet at the end of the day, there was one thing missing. The Orange failed to qualify for the NCAA Championships, finishing third in the NCAA regionals. Only the top two teams from the regionals move on.

This season, the Orange hopes to not meet the same fate. The men’s cross country squad look to begin building off their successful 2006 Saturday when the men’s and women’s teams kick off the season at the Harry Lang Invitational at Colgate.

The men return to the event looking to repeat as the top team, while the women finished second last season.

Although the preliminary poll for 2007 has not been released yet, when it is, Syracuse head coach Chris Fox hopes for the Orange to be ranked.

Being ranked has come to be synonymous with Fox-coached teams. As the head cross country coach at Auburn, Fox led the Tigers to their first national ranking in over 20 years. In his second year with the Orange, he led the men to their first votes.

Fox is looking for an even better team this year.

‘We expect to be a tremendous amount better than last year,’ Fox said. ‘I think the team goal is we’d like to go to nationals.’

Fox’s runners echoed his sentiments.

Junior Jeff Scull, one of four All-Region selections on the men’s squad, said it will be exciting to compete on a bigger stage this year after some recognition in the polls. But the ultimate goal remains the same.

‘We definitely have higher expectations this year,’ Scull said. ‘I think it’s kind of we’re going into the season expecting to make it to nationals, not taking it for granted, but that’s the big goal around here.’

The Orange is going to have to be on top of their game to make it to nationals, though. Fox said last year the Orange sneaked up on opponents, but it will not be able to this year.

Sophomore Jay Koloseus, who along with Scull was an All-Region selection, talked of the hard road ahead.

‘It’s not like we’re going to be surprising anyone this year,’ said Koloseus, who finished 23rd at the NCAA Regional. ‘People know we’re coming, people know there’s talent here. It makes us work that much harder, and we have to be that much more on.’

The Orange enters 2007 with a talent-laden squad. Scull and Koloseus join Dan Busby as All-Region returnees, along with what Fox considers a strong freshman class.

‘We hoped to go into this season ranked top 25 in the country,’ Fox said. ‘We acquired that kind of talent here now, and there’s some expectations that weren’t previously. We’d like to think we’re a top 30 team on most days. We’ve got a lot of high school All-American types, a lot of state champions, and it’s been a big upgrade in talent level.’

With what looks like a talented group of returning runners, the Orange hopes it is well-positioned to make a run at qualifying for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind.

‘We’ve all worked hard over the summer,’ Koloseus said. ‘We’re looking for a real big season this year and an even higher-place finish at regional than we did last year and hopefully get to go to Indiana.’

Published on August 30, 2007 at 12:00 pm