Syracuse men’s cross country wins 4th straight ACC title

Defending national champion Syracuse took home the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s cross country title, paced by the winner, Justyn Knight, along with four other runners in the top 10.

With the victory, the No. 6 Syracuse men won their fifth straight conference title, and seventh in the last eight years. It was their fourth straight title since joining the ACC.

On the 8-kilometer course, Knight ran a time of 22:50.7, winning the race by under two seconds over Edwin Kibichiy (22:52.2) of Louisville. Knight passed Kibichiy in the last 30 yards on the final straightaway.

Coming in behind Knight to round out the Orange’s scoring quintet were Colin Bennie (23:12.8) in fifth place, Iliass Aouani (23:22.4) in sixth place, Joel Hubbard (23:25.1) in eighth place and Philo Germano (23:25.8), in ninth place.

Syracuse’s 29 points put a big gap between the Orange and the runner-up, No. 16 Virginia, which had 72.

Syracuse improved on its 2015 ACC Championship-winning point total, dropping from 46 points all the way to 29.

In the women’s race, on a 6-kilometer course, Syracuse was led by a 17th place-finishing Paige Stoner (20:32.0). Behind the lead of Stoner, the Orange finished fifth.

Finishing in the other four scoring positions for Syracuse were Mary Malone (20:45.5) in 24th place, McKenzie Altmayer (21:07.5) in 39th place, Madeleine Davison (21:26.9) in 53rd place and Sydney Leiher (21:34.9) in 60^th place.

Notre Dame’s Anna Rohrer (19:26.4) won the race by 25 seconds over Isabelle Kennedy (19:51.7) of Boston College. No. 3 North Carolina State, the host, finished at the top with 53 points. Syracuse totaled 184 points.