Amanda Vestri wins 5,000-meter race at ACC championship

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Syracuse’s Amanda Vestri (16:10.33) won the 5,000-meter event at the ACC championship on Friday in Clemson, South Carolina. This is the second time in three years that a Syracuse runner has won the event — Paige Stoner won both the indoor and outdoor ACC titles in 2019.

Vestri moved to the front two-thirds of the way through the race and held her position to win her first ACC title. The Webster, New York native won by almost six seconds, approximately the same amount of time between second and seventh. 

After redshirting the 2020 indoor season, Vestri has now won both career indoor races — she also won the 5,000-meter at the Virginia Tech invitational in January. Her time of 16:09.96 won her ACC Co-Track Performer of the Week honors. It was then the second-fastest time in the nation, although she only faced one competitor who finished the race, teammate Ellie Lawler.

Vestri transferred to Syracuse from Iowa State last year. An All-American with the Cyclones, she was named All-Big 12 in both track and cross country. In the 2019 NCAA outdoor championships, she finished 14th in the 10,000-meter.

Vestri is the fifth Syracuse runner to win the ACC title in the 5,000-meter. She joins Stoner, Iliass Aouani, Justyn Knight and Martin Hehir. 

Several Syracuse athletes on Saturday made the finals for the last day of the ACC championship, including three in the men’s 60-meter hurdles.