In its first meet of the season, Syracuse took first place in both the men’s and women’s races.

This Saturday at 10 a.m., the men’s and women’s teams will run in the Dartmouth Invitational in Hanover, N.H., with the goal of improving.

At the Harry Lang Invitational last Saturday, the men took the top 11 spots, while the women took seven of the top 11 spots. But during practice this week, the team didn’t think about its past success. Instead, SU focused on getting better for the future.

“Last weekend was definitely a step in the right direction,” said assistant coach Adam Smith. “You can’t get complacent, and even though you have a race that goes well like that, you’d like all races to go well like that.”

Redshirt sophomore Juris Silenieks, who finished in 20:33.0, led the men’s team. Right behind him was redshirt senior Robert Molke who clocked in at 20:34.10 seconds.

While both Silenieks and Molke celebrated their accomplishments after the race, Molke knew the team needed to remember it was just the first meet.

“From here on out, the races will definitely get tougher,” Molke said. “Every other weekend, we’ll have the intensity upped with the races as the season goes on.”

Syracuse knew the first race would be slow, so the Orange took advantage and dominated.

“The opportunity we have this year is so great,” Molke said. “It’s great to see a lot of guys capitalize on that opportunity.”

But it wasn’t just the men’s team that took advantage of the opportunity.

The women’s team won its race and took seven out of the top 11 spots. Redshirt junior Molly Malone, who finished 15th overall at 16:56.20, said the outcome was great, but it’s time to move on.

“The first meet’s more of a gauge of how our workouts have been going,” Malone said. “We don’t really put too much emotional stress into that as we would for a bigger meet.”

This entire week, the Orange has made sure to keep what Malone said in mind. Syracuse can’t focus too much on Week 1, or it may not succeed in Hanover.

“It was more of a workout than anything,” Smith said. “Some races you’re going to have different obstacles. We just got to keep working hard and got to keep practicing hard.”

Syracuse continues to work hard every day not only on getting quicker, but also on continuing its success from the opening weekend.

“The team needs to stay consistent,” Smith said. “I think us as coaches, and the team is really excited for what’s going to come over the next couple months.”

With a couple days left before the meet, Molke took it upon himself to prepare the team for the Dartmouth Invitational.

The Harry Lang Invitational boosted the team’s confidence. Now it’s time to see if it worked.

“It was good to get a race in,” Molke said. “But this weekend’s a lot more about focusing on a national race. And sort of just focusing on what needs to get done.”

Published on September 12, 2013 at 12:00 am

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