You’ve heard this a lot over the last two years, but once again the Syracuse Orange track and field team was led by Paige Stoner over the weekend. The senior made her 2019 3000m steeplechase debut and won the Virginia Challenge in a time of 10:01.36. This time is now the fastest in the ACC this season and teammate Laura Dickinson’s 10:10.92 at Virginia is 3rd on the ACC list which sets the Orange up to place well in the event next month.
Stoner has top 10 times in the country in the steeple and 10k and she looks poised to earn All-America honors in her final season. Dickinson’s in the top 30 in the nation in those events and it looks as though she will be a runner to watch moving forward. It will be difficult to replace Stoner but Dickinson could be emerging as a leader for the Syracuse women in 2019-20.
Another Syracuse runner who looks determined to make some noise this outdoor season is Iliass Aouani. With a school and ACC record already this season, Aouani dropped down to the 1500m this weekend and turned in a 3:45.61 which stands as the fastest for the Orange this season. The time puts Aouani in 7th on the ACC list just ahead of Aidan Tooker and I suspect we’ll see Iliass run a 5k to give him another option at the ACC meet.
Joe Dragon’s 14:07.96 this weekend moves him into 11th on the ACC 5000m list while Kevin James ran 29:46.69 in the 10k which is 14th in the conference. The Syracuse men now have three of the top 11 times in the ACC 5k and four of the top 16 times in the 10k. With a couple of meets before the ACC Outdoor Championships, the Orange will be looking for more athletes to ascend the performance lists.
Next weekend the sprint/hurdle group will take the spotlight as they head down to Gainesville Florida to compete again. The distance group will be travelling down 81 to compete at Cornell and we’ll recap both meets.