Paul O’Donnell honors his father’s legacy on cross country course

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Paul O’Donnell never got to say goodbye to his dad.

Christy O’Donnell’s sudden death came in 2017, when he died in a drowning accident during a trip to Portugal. O’Donnell wasn’t present.

“He was very patient and always willing to help people,” O’Donnell said. “If someone needed their house painted, he would say ‘Oh, no problem,’ I tried to emulate (him) and always hang out with him. If he was going to help someone, I was going to tag along and (be his) little helper.”

O’Donnell didn’t start running competitively until 2015, two years before Christy died. Now, a Syracuse cross country runner, he carries on his father’s legacy with every race. In 2022, after graduating from the University College Dublin in Ireland, O’Donnell finished 58th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. In 2023, O’Donnell was a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference finisher in the indoor 5,000 and 10,000 meter races.

O’Donnell got a tattoo of a mountaintop on the inside of his right wrist to commemorate his father. The two used to play golf together and they liked a certain hole where the mountain resided nearby, O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell said the tattoo reminds him of the values his father taught him. At University College Dublin, he leaned on his teammates to get through the difficult times.

“It was just a massive outpour of people for (Paul)…who were looking out for him. (The team) is like a family for him,” said Myriam, O’Donnell’s mother. “Running helped him (overcome the loss of his father).”

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Less than a month after the tragedy, O’Donnell raced at the Dublin Championships. It was the first time he raced without his father around.

“I didn’t have any expectations going in,” O’Donnell said. “I just wanted to make my dad proud.”

Myriam said O’Donnell ran “the race of his life.” She said he took off and left the other racers behind him, getting ahead in the first lap and never looking back. O’Donnell said he doesn’t remember much about the race other than crossing the finish line.

“I just remember crossing the finish line and all my family (being there). People I didn’t know were hugging me,” O’Donnell said.

After graduating college in Ireland, O’Donnell wanted an opportunity to compete at the highest level in the U.S. O’Donnell said he’d watch the NCAA National Championship meet every year and that it’s a “race you can’t find anywhere else.”

Once O’Donnell’s recruitment began, former Syracuse assistant coach Tito Medrano scouted him and made O’Donnell a top target early in the process.

“I saw his track pedigree, he was an up-and-coming 5Ker. He was a really good half-marathoner (and) road racer…and an all around good runner,” Medrano said. “I always knew he was someone who would be very good in cross country.”

Medrano remembered one of the first races where O’Donnell caught his eye. On Sept. 24, 2022, the Orange competed at the Cowboy Jamboree, hosted by Oklahoma State. O’Donnell set a personal best in the 8K race, finishing in 23:56.4. Medrano said that after the race, he told his players to follow O’Donnell’s lead.

Last year, O’Donnell experienced struggles early in the season. O’Donnell said he didn’t feel his best for most of the season after having a busy summer in Ireland. But in the ACC Indoor 5K, O’Donnell broke his dry spell and won the race.

“I felt like I was just trying to catch up the whole (season). I was just trying to get through races,” O’Donnell said. “I was in the unseeded heat…I was trying to win my heat. Watching the ‘A’ race get out slow, there is this general buildup of excitement.”

The 5K was a symbolic moment for the entire family. Still, the recent accolades haven’t shifted O’Donnell’s main objective.

“My aim in life is to be as close to (my father) as possible,” O’Donnell said. “The biggest compliment someone can give me is to say that I’m like (my dad). I must be doing something right if they are comparing me to him.”