Paige Stoner defends her title at Day 2 of the ACC Outdoor Championships

Heading into the 3000m steeplechase Syracuse Orange star Paige Stoner was the clear favorite and when the gun went off Stoner showed why. She led the race from wire to wire and defended her ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the event. Stoner’s time of 9:51.24 was her fastest this season and just missed her own meet record.

Laura Dickinson delivered her personal best in the event to finish 2nd in 10:10.19 which was 13 seconds ahead of the 3rd place finisher. Dickinson will be someone to watch at the NCAA Eastern Regional as we’ll see if she can deliver another strong race. The duo combined for 18 team points for Syracuse which leaves the women in 10th place while the men are in 9th place with one day to go.

Aviana Goode ran a season-best time of 13.71 in the 100m hurdles but did not advance to the final. Alexis Crosby finished 12th in the 400m in a time of 55.29 while Dasia Pressley (season-best of 11.69) was 11th and Eunice Boateng (11.80) was 13th in the 100m dash.

The Syracuse men were led on Day 2 by Richard Floyd and Chevis Armstead II in the 110m hurdles. Floyd (13.96) was the third-fastest in qualifying while Armstead (14.35) also advances to the final with the seventh-fastest time. Both times were personal bests and the same occurred for Kelvin Almonte who was 9th in a time of 14.42. In the 100m dash heats both Chris Tucker (10.64) and Jordan Davenport (10.78) ran personal-best times for the event but did not advance to the final.

With distance runners Aidan Tooker and Simon Smith scratching from the 3000m steeplechase the Orange will be unlikely to match last season’s team finish. With regionals approaching the focus is on trying to get as many qualifiers healthy and ready to compete.

Due to weather concerns, the final day of the competition has been moved up. Here’s the new schedule and we’ll have a recap on Monday.