Bell Earns Northeast Region Coach of the Year

After leading the Orange men to its best finish at the NCAA Championships since 2016 and another NCAA Northeast Regional Championship this season, head coach Brien Bell earned the Robert Grieve Award as the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s Northeast Region Coach of the Year.

The award is named after Bob Grieve, who was the Orange’s first National Champion coach. He led the ‘Cuse cross country team to the 1951 championship, subsequently finishing as national runners-up on three occasions in his tenure.

Bell mentored the men’s unit to a return to the top-10 of the national polls this season, its highest rank since 2018, and culminated a strong season during the championship portion of the 2022 campaign. ‘Cuse was the ACC runner up in a historically strong year for the conference. The ACC finished the year with five of the nation’s top-15 teams and six ranked squads.

‘Cuse then claimed another Northeast Region Championship. In the first 10k of the season, the Orange saw five men earn All-Region honors and win the team title yet again. Nathan Lawler, Paul O’Donnell, Noah Carey, Assaf Harari and Nathan Henderson earned the all-region nods in the win.

Syracuse capped the season with its best performance at the NCAA meet in six seasons, taking 12th. Bell’s youthful women’s squad also had a strong performance, taking 23rd that was led by Savannah Roark’s All-American finish.

The Orange begin their track seasons this weekend.