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NCAA Championship Preview: 5000-meters
6/7/2016 4:56:00 PM | Track and Field
The last race of the week for the Syracuse track and field teams at the NCAA Championships, comes with Syracuse's highest seed.
Justyn Knight enters as the No. 2 seed in the men's 5000-meters, just 0.01 seconds off the top-seed. A USTFCCCA First Team All-American at last year's NCAA Championships in this event, Knight is going for his fourth-straight season in earning All-America honors, including cross country and indoor track. Teammate Colin Bennie is looking to do the same in the 10k.
ACC rival Thomas Curtin of Virginia Tech is the top seed in the event, after defeating Knight at the line at the East Prelim. Curtin also edged Knight in the 10k at the ACC Championships. However, Knight beat the Hokies' senior earlier this year at the Payton Jordan Invitational, where both set their qualifying times for prelims.
Knight enters with the No. 3 time nationally (13:27.23), trailing just Stanford's Sean McGorty and Villanova's Patrick Tiernan, both expected to be factors in the race as well as Knight, Curtin and defending NCAA Champion Edward Cheserek.
Cheserek is the No. 9 overall seed and No. 2 from the West, however the West Prelim was condensed to two days, so he ran the 5k on the heels of a 10k the night prior. He will also be doubling at the NCAA Championships, entering with 13 NCAA titles including cross country and relays. Cheserek and Knight haven't faced each other since the NCAA Indoor Championship.
Cheserek was beat by Portland's William Kincaid in the west, and will be seeded third overall heading into this weekend. Kincaid set his seed time in a different section of the Payton Jordan Invitational and he and Knight have yet to go head-to-head this season.
The No. 4 seed is Iona's Chartt Miller, who only ran two 5ks on the season, first at the Battle Road Twilight Meet and then at the NCAA East Prelim, where he won his heat, posting the third-best time on the day.
Arse'ne Guillorel of Samford comes in seeded fifth. He also set his qualifying time at the Payton Jordan in a different section than Knight, so his fifth-place finish at the NCAA East Prelim was the only meeting with the Orange sophomore this season.
Tiernan, the runner-up at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, is the No. 6 seed. He edged Knight by 1.5 seconds at the Payton Jordan Invitational earlier this year, but Knight returned the favor at prelims, when he bested Tiernan by four seconds, although the duo were in different heats.
Tiernan is followed by Ole Miss' Ryan Walling and Penn's Thomas Awad in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Campbell's Amon Terrer and Lawrence Kipkoech sit in 10th and 11th entering the meet. Terrer is also set to double in the 10k and 5k, with neither facing Knight prior to when he bested them at the regional meet.
Wisconsin's Morgan McDonald and Washington's Colby Gilbert, who own the No. 5 and No. 6 times nationally are the No. 12 and 13 seeds, both obtained at the West Preliminary. Neither has faced Knight this year head-to-head, despite McDonald setting his season best at the Payton Jordan as well. George Mason's Steven Flynn sits right behind as the No. 14 seed.
McGorty occupies the No. 15 seed, despite holding the nation's fastest time and being the only collegiate runner to meet the Olympic 5k standard this season. He and Knight only met at the Payton Jordan Invite, where McGorty was the top-collegiate finisher in a field loaded with professionals, while Knight was third. The duo are very familiar with one another though, having met at the NCAA Indoor Championships, where McGorty crossed just 0.3 seconds ahead of Knight and the NCAA Cross Country Championships, where Knight placed three spots ahead of McGorty.
Behind McGorty, Michgan's Tony Smoragiewicz sits at the No. 16 seed. Despite not owning a time in the top-95 of the nation this season, his 10th-place finish moved the Wolverines junior onto Eugene.
Another member of the ACC sits in the 17th spot, as Clemson's James Dwyer is the final seed out of the east. He and Knight went head-to-head at the NCAA East Prelim and in the 10k at the conference championship this season, with Knight besting him in both.
The final-seven spots all came from the west, with Air Force's Patrick Corona, Oklahoma State freshman Cerake Geberkidane, Colorado's Morgan Pearson, Oklahoma State's Vegard Oelstad, Stanford's Grant Fisher, Oregon's Jake Leingang and BYU's Rory Linkletter rounding out the field.
Action gets underway on Friday at 10:25 p.m. eastern time and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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Justyn Knight enters as the No. 2 seed in the men's 5000-meters, just 0.01 seconds off the top-seed. A USTFCCCA First Team All-American at last year's NCAA Championships in this event, Knight is going for his fourth-straight season in earning All-America honors, including cross country and indoor track. Teammate Colin Bennie is looking to do the same in the 10k.
ACC rival Thomas Curtin of Virginia Tech is the top seed in the event, after defeating Knight at the line at the East Prelim. Curtin also edged Knight in the 10k at the ACC Championships. However, Knight beat the Hokies' senior earlier this year at the Payton Jordan Invitational, where both set their qualifying times for prelims.
Knight enters with the No. 3 time nationally (13:27.23), trailing just Stanford's Sean McGorty and Villanova's Patrick Tiernan, both expected to be factors in the race as well as Knight, Curtin and defending NCAA Champion Edward Cheserek.
Cheserek is the No. 9 overall seed and No. 2 from the West, however the West Prelim was condensed to two days, so he ran the 5k on the heels of a 10k the night prior. He will also be doubling at the NCAA Championships, entering with 13 NCAA titles including cross country and relays. Cheserek and Knight haven't faced each other since the NCAA Indoor Championship.
Cheserek was beat by Portland's William Kincaid in the west, and will be seeded third overall heading into this weekend. Kincaid set his seed time in a different section of the Payton Jordan Invitational and he and Knight have yet to go head-to-head this season.
The No. 4 seed is Iona's Chartt Miller, who only ran two 5ks on the season, first at the Battle Road Twilight Meet and then at the NCAA East Prelim, where he won his heat, posting the third-best time on the day.
Arse'ne Guillorel of Samford comes in seeded fifth. He also set his qualifying time at the Payton Jordan in a different section than Knight, so his fifth-place finish at the NCAA East Prelim was the only meeting with the Orange sophomore this season.
Tiernan, the runner-up at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, is the No. 6 seed. He edged Knight by 1.5 seconds at the Payton Jordan Invitational earlier this year, but Knight returned the favor at prelims, when he bested Tiernan by four seconds, although the duo were in different heats.
Tiernan is followed by Ole Miss' Ryan Walling and Penn's Thomas Awad in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Campbell's Amon Terrer and Lawrence Kipkoech sit in 10th and 11th entering the meet. Terrer is also set to double in the 10k and 5k, with neither facing Knight prior to when he bested them at the regional meet.
Wisconsin's Morgan McDonald and Washington's Colby Gilbert, who own the No. 5 and No. 6 times nationally are the No. 12 and 13 seeds, both obtained at the West Preliminary. Neither has faced Knight this year head-to-head, despite McDonald setting his season best at the Payton Jordan as well. George Mason's Steven Flynn sits right behind as the No. 14 seed.
McGorty occupies the No. 15 seed, despite holding the nation's fastest time and being the only collegiate runner to meet the Olympic 5k standard this season. He and Knight only met at the Payton Jordan Invite, where McGorty was the top-collegiate finisher in a field loaded with professionals, while Knight was third. The duo are very familiar with one another though, having met at the NCAA Indoor Championships, where McGorty crossed just 0.3 seconds ahead of Knight and the NCAA Cross Country Championships, where Knight placed three spots ahead of McGorty.
Behind McGorty, Michgan's Tony Smoragiewicz sits at the No. 16 seed. Despite not owning a time in the top-95 of the nation this season, his 10th-place finish moved the Wolverines junior onto Eugene.
Another member of the ACC sits in the 17th spot, as Clemson's James Dwyer is the final seed out of the east. He and Knight went head-to-head at the NCAA East Prelim and in the 10k at the conference championship this season, with Knight besting him in both.
The final-seven spots all came from the west, with Air Force's Patrick Corona, Oklahoma State freshman Cerake Geberkidane, Colorado's Morgan Pearson, Oklahoma State's Vegard Oelstad, Stanford's Grant Fisher, Oregon's Jake Leingang and BYU's Rory Linkletter rounding out the field.
Action gets underway on Friday at 10:25 p.m. eastern time and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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