Aidan Tooker wasn’t just racing Virginia Tech’s Peter Seufer. He was chasing the man everyone chases: Justyn Knight.

Tooker, a true sophomore, dusted Seufer, but only after Knight had crossed the finish line for gold in the 3000-meter race at the ACC Championships on Feb. 23.

Once Tooker secured second place, he embraced Knight in a watershed moment for the SU track and field program. Knight, the greatest runner in SU’s history, is set to graduate this spring and is passing the metaphoric torch. Tooker, who has embraced Knight and other graduating seniors as mentors, is prepared to lead the program next year as the top runner.

“I’ve just been doing my best to take him under my wing because this is my last year here and it’s truly his team after I go,” Knight said.

The night before the 3000 meter, Tooker labored through the 5000-meter race. He finished in seventh place, 25 seconds behind Knight, the winner. Tooker said Knight told him, “Even the best of the best aren’t always on.”

SU head coach Chris Fox said he expects Tooker to be the best runner on the cross country team next year and “hopefully” an All-American in both cross country and track. Seeing him win silver in the 3000 at ACCs proved Tooker is “where he should be at the moment.”

“It was nice to see Aidan fulfill the promise that we thought he had,” Fox said. “To tell you the truth, we expected that. Anything less than that would have been disappointing.”

Tooker runs the 1500 meter, the 3000 and the 5000. But he specializes in the steeplechase, a distance event involving hurdles and puddle obstacles. He won silver in last year’s NCAA outdoor 3000-meter steeplechase with one of the fastest times ever recorded by a freshman.

Tooker’s steeplechase skills manifest themselves on casual post-workout jogs, where he loves to hurdle anything in his path. Knight calls him a “ball of energy.”

“Aidan loves jumping over stuff,” Knight said. “Sometimes I’ll tell him, ‘Hey, you gotta let your legs rest.’ Or ‘Maybe don’t jump over that trash can because you might miss it and injure yourself.’ Little stuff like that.”

Knight has assumed a big brother position with Tooker by providing advice about how to handle himself during meets, how to bounce back from hard workouts and how to preserve his body — for instance, don’t hurdle trash cans on Comstock Avenue. Colin Bennie and the other senior distance runners also set an example for Tooker to follow.

“It’s leading by example more than anything,” Bennie said. “It’s showing him how to act on these trips and, by proxy, he goes and tells the other guys about it, so on trips that we’re not on or when he’s hanging with the younger guys, he can show them what’s up.”

Now, Knight is preparing to move on from Syracuse along with his fellow distance-running seniors Philo Germano, Andy Paladino and Bennie. Knight and Fox agree that Tooker will have to step up next year in the seniors’ absence, but he will not be alone: Juniors Kevin James and Simon Smith will likely lead with Tooker.

There is no blueprint on how to recover after graduating the best distance runner in the nation. Fox says the post-Knight era will be different, but it won’t be a transition year and SU should still contend with Tooker as the top option.

“We’ll have a really young team,” Fox said. “But with Aidan and Noah (Affolder) and Nathan (Henderson) and Joe Dragon and Dominic Hockenbury … That’s a team that should be top-15, maybe top-10 in the country.”

In many ways, Tooker is already following in Knight’s footsteps because they have similar traits.

Both highly touted recruits didn’t redshirt their freshman years and exceeded expectations. They both have a seemingly interminable stash of energy and tend to have a silly side foiling their intense race-day demeanors.

“I see a lot of myself in him,” Knight said.

“I just hope that I can take some of the stuff he’s passed down to me,” Tooker said.

Published on April 16, 2018 at 9:04 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman