The Syracuse Orange track and field teams did not place as well as planned at last weekend’s ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships, but the team still produced several outstanding results. Junior Justyn Knight continued his dominance of the distance events as he won both the 3k (8:05.05) and 5k (13:50.27) for the second straight year. Knight broke the ACC meet record in the 5k which was set in 2015 by former Orange standout Martin Hehir. In both races, Knight was in control in both races and he has a lot of momentum as he looks for his first individual NCAA title. For his performance, Knight shared MVP of the meet with Florida State Seminoles sprinter Darryl Haraway.
Freddie Crittenden III also defended his 60m hurdles title and in the process set a new ACC meet record with a time of 7.65 in the final to win in dominating fashion. It isn’t often that a conference championship is won by more than two tenths of a second, but that’s exactly what Freddie did in South Bend. He’ll be heading to the NCAA meet with an opportunity to become Syracuse’s 2nd hurdler to win a national title (Jarret Eaton won the event back in 2012).
Other scorers for the Orange men were Winston Lee (4th in the 60m dash), Iliass Aouani (4th in the 5k and 7th in the 3k), and the 4th-place Distance Medley Relay team of Joel Hubbard, Paul Lovell, Pascal Bastien, and Adam Palamar. The Virginia Tech Hokies won the men’s team competition, Syracuse tied for 5th with Louisville.
The Syracuse women had only two scorers at the meet, but Kadejhia Sellers and Paige Stoner delivered new school records. Sellers broke her own record by nearly a second in running 52.97 to take 3rd-place in the 400m. Stoner broke Sarah Pagano’s 2014 record by four seconds with her 3rd-place time of 16:05.04 in the 5k. It was a breakthrough season for both athletes and they will be worth watching when outdoor track begins. The Miami Hurricanes won the women’s team competition while Syracuse placed 14th.
Knight and Crittenden will represent the Orange at the NCAA Indoor Championships and they should be joined by Palamar in the Mile. We’ll have to wait and see if they are joined by any other Syracuse athletes when entries are declared.