NCAA Championship Central

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse University cross country team will look to continue its run of success on Monday, November 22 as the harriers compete in the NCAA Championship, hosted by Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind. The women's 6k race will begin at 12:08 p.m., followed by the men's 10k event at 12:48 p.m. at LaVern Gibson Championship Course. A live webcast of the championship will be broadcast from noon to 1:30 p.m. Eastern time on NCAA.com. 

A Look at the Orange
The Orange men enters the meet ranked 10th nationally and will be represented by Roman Acosta, Pat Dupont, Sean Keefe, Tito Medrano, Forrest Misenti, Robert Molke, Steve Murdock, Corey Robinson, Steve Weeks and Joseph Whelan. The 11th-ranked women's squad will consist of Natalie Busby, Catherine DeSarle, Carly Hamond, Katie Hursey, Ari Kasprowicz, Sarah Pagano, Lauren Penney, Kimberly Spano, Heather Stephens, and Cassie White. This year's NCAA Championship will be the 15th trip in men's program history and the third for the women.

Sizing up the Competition
The men's race will feature six BIG EAST teams, including the Orange who is the highest ranked institution in the conference (10th). National powerhouses No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 Oklahoma St. and No. 3 Oregon will provide the toughest competition in the 10k event.

On the women's side, three other BIG EAST schools will join the 11th-ranked Orange, including No. 1 Villanova, No. 3 Georgetown and No. 15 Providence. Both Villanova and Georgetown placed ahead of SU at the BIG EAST Championship this year.

National Rewind
Last year at the NCAA Championship, the men took 14th, while the women earned a program-best 18th-place finish. Medrano led the men and earned All-America status after finishing 39th with a time of 30:20.5. Hursey, the 2009 USTFCCCA Northeast Region Athlete of the Year, earned a team-best 80th-place finish (21:10.5) for the women.