Late surge propels Syracuse men’s team to 2nd-place finish in ACC Championship

With just three events left to be scored, the Syracuse men sat third on the leaderboard in the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. But that would change after the 5000-meters. The Orange had six of the top seven runners finishers and picked up 34 points, and it jumped ahead.

The 5k shot Syracuse into first place, and though the triple jump put Florida State back on top, it secured the Orange a second place finish in the meet, its best outdoor championship finish since joining the ACC. Justyn Knight secured his 11th ACC title with a time of 13:58.69. Right behind him, Iliass Aouani finished second, Colin Bennie finished third and Aidan Tooker placed fourth. Noah Affolder took sixth and Philo Germano took seventh.

On the women’s side, the Orange finished 12th as Miami took home the championship hardware.

The 5k wasn’t the only dominant performance for the men on Saturday. It also had a strong showing in the 110-meter hurdles. Angelo Goss took the gold with a time of 13.72 seconds followed by Matt Moore in second and Richard Floyd in fourth.

Also on the men’s side, Knight placed fourth in the men’s 1500-meters with a time of 3:46.96 while Simon Smith placed ninth. In the 100-meter men’s final, Winston Lee placed eighth. In the 4×100 meter relay, the men placed fifth with a time of 40.22 seconds.

On the women’s side of the 5k, Paige Stoner took the bronze with a 16:14.81 finish. In the women’s 4×100 meter relay, SU placed ninth with a time of 45.53 seconds.

The next meet for Orange runners will be the NCAA East Preliminaries in Jacksonville, FL starting May 24.