Paige Stoner ends SU’s outdoor season with 3rd place finish in 3000-meter steeplechase

Paige Stoner ended Syracuse’s season on a high note, placing third in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase with a personal best time 9:46.98 at the outdoor NCAA Division I Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday. The time breaks her own school record she posted earlier this season.

Stoner finished almost two seconds ahead of fourth place, taken by Michigan’s Claire Borchers. Boise State’s Allie Ostrander smoked the competition and won with a time of 9:39.28, six seconds ahead of the second place finisher.

The junior was the sixth and final SU runner to compete in a national championship race in the last four days. Justyn Knight had the highest finish with a second-place effort in the men’s 5000-meter and Philo Germano placed 14th in the same race on Friday. Aidan Tooker thrived in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase placing fourth while breaking the school record. Noah Affolder took ninth in the steeple. Colin Bennie was SU’s third top-ten finisher, placing ninth in the men’s 10K final, and Matt Moore finished fifth in his heat in the 110-meter hurdle semifinals, failing to advance to the final.

This concludes a successful outdoor season for the Orange, highlighted by a second place finish for the men in the ACC Championships. The NCAA Championships also marked the end of the careers of seniors Germano, Bennie and Knight.

Knight, one of the most decorated athletes in Syracuse history, finished his career with two individual NCAA titles, 11 individual ACC titles and 48 points at NCAA track and field championships. He also contributed to one Syracuse NCAA title and five ACC titles.