Knight, Stoner win individual titles, Syracuse men take home title at ACC championship

Justyn Knight and Paige Stoner both won individual titles Friday at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in Louisville, Kentucky for men’s and women’s cross country, respectively. The men’s team took the ACC Championships while the women’s team placed fourth.

No. 4 Syracuse was led by Justyn Knight’s second ACC individual title, along with four other runners in the top 10.

Its victory marks their sixth consecutive conference victory and five-straight ACC titles. On the 8-kilometer course in Louisville, Knight successfully defended his title from last season while Colin Bennie, Aidan Tooker, Philo Germano and Joseph Dragon rounded out the scoring runners.

Nahom Solomon, a senior from Georgia Tech, led the race from the start, but Knight, Bennie, and two Virginia runners overtook him at the 16 minute mark. During the final 500 meters of the race, Knight pulled away from the pack and cruised to a victory with a time of 23:13.0. Bennie finished third at 23:17.3.

Sophomore Aidan Tooker ran sixth (23:29.0) with Philo Germano (23:39.2) and Joseph Dragon (23:42.2) taking eighth and ninth, respectively. Dragon, the team’s fifth runner at Louisville, was the highest finishing redshirt freshman at the meet.

Junior Iliass Aouani competed in his first meet of the year after an injury limited his season. Aouani took 22nd place in 24:03.4 after placing sixth at ACC Championships last year.

After winning the conference with 29 points a year ago, the men improved this season, scoring a 27, almost 50 points ahead of second-place finisher Virginia Tech.

Syracuse’s women’s team was highlighted by Stoner’s late kick on Louisville’s Dorcas Wasike.

Stoner ran the 6-kilometer course in 19:52.0 and took home her first ACC individual title at SU. It comes after running 17th at ACC Championships last season.

Defending ACC champion N.C. State won the women’s team title with a score of 43 points. Syracuse placed fourth with 134 points, an improvement from its 184 point finish last season.