Justyn Knight, Margo Malone win individual gold medals at ACC outdoor championships
Syracuse’s top runners continued to perform at this past weekend’s Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, as both Margo Malone and Justyn Knight – who finished the last part of the 1500-meter finals without a shoe – won individual gold medals in their respective events.
In the 10,000-meter run, Malone, who owned the ACC’s top time in the event entering the meet, set a new facility record at the Mike Long Track in Tallahassee, Florida, cruising to a time of 33:33.69.
Malone was followed by Shaylyn Tuite, who took fifth with a personal record time of 34:44.12. Maura Linde (36:13.56) finished 13th and Rebecca Skodis finished 18th with a personal best of 37:17.50.
In the men’s 10,000-meter run, Syracuse placed three runners in the top-5. Dan Lennon snagged silver, relinquishing his lead on the final lap en route to a time of 29:43.84, while Colin Bennie (29:50.64) took bronze and Reed Kamyszek (30:02.12) finished fifth.
Philo Germano (30:35.43) took 11th and Kevyn Hoyos (31:24.55) took 15th to round out the top-15.
Knight won gold in the men’s 1500-meter finals with a time of 3:47.85. The gold medal caps an impressive freshman campaign for Knight, who shattered the Syracuse 1500-meter school record earlier in the season.
In the 110-meter hurdle finals, Freddie Crittenden (13.74 seconds) and Donald Pollitt (14.06) finished third and fourth respectively.
Shaina Harrison finished second in the 100-meter dash finals. Her time of 11.36 was just .08 seconds shy of the gold medal winner.
In the women’s 5,000-meter run, Jessie Petersen snagged the bronze medal, completing the race in 16:13.60, while Martin Hehir (14:00.63) finished just over one second behind the top finisher in the men’s 5000-meter run.
Max Straneva finished in fifth with a time of 14:15.84.
On the final day for the jumpers, Regine Hunter took sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 12.35 meters and Jabari Butler (2.02 meters) grabbed tenth in the high jump.
Finally, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase finals, Sydney Leiher took 10th with a time of 10:39.43 while Haley Cutright finished in 20th.
Overall, the Syracuse men finished seventh overall with 51 points and the women grabbed 10th overall with 33 points.
Those who qualified will next participate in the NCAA East Preliminary in Jacksonville, Fla., which begins May 28.
Published on May 18, 2015 at 12:39 pm
Contact Matt: mralex01@syr.edu