Knight Captures 14th ACC Championship

Photo by: Atlantic Coast Conference

2/23/2018 9:49:00 PM | Track and Field

Germano and Stoner find the podium

Justyn Knight's already overflowing trophy case added another title on Friday, when the 'Cuse senior successfully defended his two prior ACC Indoor 5000-meter Championships with a convincing win to open his ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Knight now boasts 14 ACC Championships - nine individual and five team titles – counting his time in cross country and track, making him one of the league's most decorated student-athletes ever.

Knight was trailed closely by teammate Philo Germano, who joined him on the podium with a second-place finish. Paige Stoner led the Orange women, taking third in the 5k as well to highlight day two of the ACC Indoor Championships.

Knight comfortably hung near the front for the duration of the race, before he and Germano left the rest of the field in the final laps. Knight's time is a new Clemson facility record in 13:50.79, while Germano closed in 13:51.50. Knight missed out on his own ACC Championship record by 0.50 seconds.

Iliass Aouani and Aidan Tooker joined the scoring as well, with Aouani taking fifth in 14:08.51 and Tooker finishing in seventh (14:14.16), missing out on sixth place and one additional point by 0.001 seconds. Kevin James finished in 10th (14:20.50) and Joe Dragon took 21st (14:47.62) to round out a deep field.

In the women's race, Stoner took third, crossing the line in 16:37.37. Louisville's Dorcas Wasike came away with the win in 16:34.79. Shannon Malone also factored in the scoring, picking up two points for a seventh-place finish in 16:43.65. Madeleine Davison (17:16.29) took 19th.

Aviana Goode also earned points for the Orange on Friday, tying for sixth in the high jump. Goode cleared 1.69 meters to tie Virginia's Gabrielle Hayes.

Another bright spot for the Orange was the hurdles, four men qualified for Saturday's final, led by Angelo Goss' time of 7.69 seconds, which makes him the top-qualifier in the event. Matt Moore (7.85 seconds), Richard Floyd (7.93 seconds) and David Gilstrap (7.93 seconds) will also represent the Orange in the eight-man final. Kelvin Almonte (8.03), Chevis Armstead (a season-best 8.06), Jamil Adams (8.11) and Andrew Aguilera (8.54) narrowly missed the finals.

Tia Thevenin made her way into Saturday's 60-meter hurdles final. She turned in a new season-best time of 8.27 seconds and qualified in sixth position. Danielle Delgado finished 15th in 8.58 seconds.

Kadejhia Sellers easily qualified for the finals of the 400-meters. She finished in 53.93 seconds to earn the No. 5 qualifying time tomorrow. Alexis Harper (56.51) turned in a new personal best and finished 25th, while Cheyenne Trigg finished 28th.

Dasia Pressey just missed out on the women's 200-meter final by 0.01 seconds. She turned in a new personal best time of 23.80 seconds, but it was a fraction of a second out of qualifying position. Imani Clark (24.04) finished in 16th. Victoria Parker crossed the line in 21st with a time of 24.51 seconds.

Kashif Miller just missed out on qualifying for the final in the 200, taking 10th in 21.30.

Clark also finished 16th in the 60-meter dash earlier in the day, finishing with a new personal-best mark of 7.49 seconds. She was closely followed by Justice Richardson (7.55), who took 18th. Parker finished in 31st.

Miller led the way in the men's 60, with a 16th-place finish in 6.87 seconds. Chrus tucker finished in 23rd position with a time of 6.95 seconds, while Chuka Soronnadi (6.95) finished a fraction of a second behind in 25th.

Sydney Leiher finished in 22nd in the mile, crossing the line in 5:00.50, trailed closely by Olivia Elston (5:02.13), who finished 25th. Rachel Bonner (5:06.28) crossed the line in 28th.

Simon Smith (4:11.44), Nathan Henderson (4:13.14) and Andy Paladino (4:16.25), finished in 14th, 21st and 30th, respectively, in the men's mile.

With one day and 11 events remaining, the Syracuse men sit in fourth place with 24 points, hoping to seize a big point grab from the 60-meter hurdles and 3000-meters, where the Orange both have loaded fields. Florida State leads the way with 43 points.

The 'Cuse women sit in eighth, with 10.5 points. Louisville has a large lead in the women's team scoring with 58 points. Action gets underway on ACC Network Extra at Noon.