Records continue to fall for Syracuse Track & Field

The Syracuse Orange track and field teams went to three different meets over the weekend and from coast to coast they came away with outstanding performances and a few victories. The sprint/hurdles/jumps group started things off at the Villanova Invitational on Friday afternoon. For the second time this season, Tia Thevenin broke the school record in the 60m hurdles, lowering her record to 8.21 seconds in her victory. Also setting a new record on Friday was Khadejia Sellers in the 400m with her winning time of 53.92.

Thevenin and Sellers also combined with Ebhani Blackwood and Danielle Delgado to win the 4x400m relay. Delgado added a 3rd place finish in the 60m hurdles, Victoria Parker finished 4th in the 200m dash, and Justice Richardson finished 5th in the 60m dash. In field events Friday, Aviana Goode took 2nd in the high jump while Regine Hunter earned a 4th place finish in the triple jump.

The Orange men were bolstered by the season debut of Freddie Crittenden who opened his season in style with a time of 7.67 (#2 time in the NCAA this season) to win the 60m hurdles. David Gilstrap (2nd in 7.99 ), Chevis Armstead (4th in 8.06 ), and Richard Floyd (6th in 8.19). The hurdle group seems poised to do some damage this season...just maybe not on the microphone.

The hurdlers weren’t the only ones Winston Lee won the 60m dash in a time of 6.78 seconds while Kashif Miller took 4th in the 200m, and Randall Johnson added a 3rd place finish in the long jump.

Crittenden wasn’t the only Orange athlete to debut with a win. Justyn Knight trekked across country to Washington to grab the win in the mile in a time of 3:59.

As impressive as that time is, it wasn’t the fastest mile run by a Syracuse athlete this weekend. Adam Palamar turned in a 3:57.39 to win at the Terrier Classic. Palamar’s time is the fastest in the NCAA this season (Knight’s is currently 7th). Aidan Tooker was 5th with a 4:02.11. In the 3000m, Iliass Aouani (7:57.67) and Colin Bennie (7:58.15) started their seasons with a 3rd and 4th place finish respectively. Those performances place them 7th and 9th in the NCAA right now. Freshman Joe Dragon turned in another solid race taking 5th in the 5k with a time of 14:24.

The Orange women were led in Boston by Paige Stoner’s 4th place finish in the 5k with a time of 16:26.71. Madeleine Davison was 9th overall in the 3000m, but won her heat in 9:48.62. In the mile, Syracuse’s top finishers were Rachel Bonner (12th in 4:51.99) and Sydney Leiher (14th in 4:52.56).

Syracuse heads back to Boston next weekend for meets at BU and Harvard looking to continue to solidify qualifiers for the ACC Championships. We’ll recap those meets next week.