Syracuse men’s cross country wins northeast regional, qualifies for nationals

Defending national champion Syracuse won the NCAA northeast regional in men’s cross country, paced by the winner, Justyn Knight, along with four other runners in the top 10.

With the victory, the No. 5 Syracuse men won their fourth straight northeast regional title. Justyn Knight defended his title as he also took first place in this race last year. Colin Bennie came in just behind Knight for the second year in a row at regionals.

With the men taking home the top spot, they automatically qualify for the NCAA national championship meet on November 19, in Terre Haute, Indiana. The top two finishing teams in each regional qualify automatically, so second-place Iona, which is ranked No. 7, qualified along with the Orange.

On the 10-kilometer course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York, Knight ran a time of 30:30.52, followed by Bennie in 30:32.75.

Coming in behind Knight and Bennie to round out the Orange’s five scorers were Iliass Aouani (30:41.23) in seventh place, Philo Germano (30:47.36) in ninth place, and Joel Hubbard (30:47.44) in 10th place.

Syracuse’s 29 points put a large gap between the Orange and Iona, which had 65 points. This was the second straight year of 29 points in the northeast regional for the Orange.

In the women’s race, on a 6-kilometer course, Syracuse was led by a 10th place-finishing Paige Stoner (20:42.62). Stoner’s strong race was unable to carry the Orange, as SU finished seventh.

Finishing in the other four scoring positions for Syracuse were Emma Wilson (21:31.51) in 43rd place, Sydney Leiher (21:53.25) in 62nd place, Shannon Malone (21:55.29) in 67th place and Mackenzie Altmyer (21:59.01) in 74th place.

New Hampshire’s Elinor Purrier (20:07.82) won the race, finishing ahead of Courtney Smith (20:13.07) of Harvard. Defending regional champion, No. 3 Providence, emerged victorious again, finishing with 50 points.  Syracuse totaled 256 points.