Amanda Vestri wins women’s 5,000-meter by 19 seconds at Virginia Grand Prix

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Amanda Vestri continued her outdoor campaign at the Virginia Grand Prix on Saturday. After winning the 10,000-meter at the Virginia Challenge two weekends ago, Vestri won the women’s 5,000-meter by 19 seconds.

Between this year’s indoor and outdoor season, Vestri has won all three 5,000-meter races she’s participated in, including the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Championships in February. In two weeks, Vestri will have the chance to win another 5,000-meter title at the ACC Outdoor Championships.

The Orange had two other runners finish in the top 10 of the women’s 5,000-meter, with Jordan Jacob (16:47.94) in eighth and Reilly Zink in ninth (17:02.33).

The Syracuse men did not perform as well in the men’s 5,000-meter. Joe Dragon (14:04.39) led the Orange and set an outdoor personal best by finishing ninth. Freshmen Sam Lawler (14:25.48) and Ethan Wechsler (14:30.93) both finished in the top 20. Kevin James (14:44.53), Nathan Lawler (14:49.28) and Joseph Eovaldi (14:58.18) took three of the last four places.

In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Ashley Wallace (14.07) set a personal best by finishing second, while Shaleah Colaire (14.41) followed behind in fifth. Colaire (1:00.57) also raced in the 400-meter, where she finished fifth.

In the men’s 110-meter hurdles, Anthony Vazquez (14.20) set a personal best and placed fourth. Jamil Adams (14.53) also set a personal best with an eighth-place finish. Vazquez raced in the 200-meter, where he finished 13th.

Justus Holden-Betts (10:32.27) gained speed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, setting a personal best for the second straight meet.

In the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, Aidan Tooker (8:50.39) took sixth place. In 2018, Tooker took fourth place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but this was his first steeplechase race of the outdoor season.

For the women’s 100-meter, Eunice Boateng (11.94) finished in seventh place. She also ran in the 200-meter, where her time of 23.23 seconds earned her second place.

Abigail Spiers (4:28.07) continued the trend of Syracuse runners setting personal bests in the women’s 1,500-meter, finishing in 14th. Emma Eastman (4:32.43) finished 21st.

Syracuse concluded the night with the men’s mile, where Simon Smith (4:03.24) took 11th place. Matthew Scrape (4:08.53) and Alex Comerford (4:08.53) followed in 20th and 21st place, respectively.