Knight, Stoner Sweep ACC Titles

Friday, October 27

Louisville, Ky

M -10 a.m. | W - 11 a.m.

Syracuse University

ACC Championships

Photo by: Tyler Cady

10/27/2017 11:30:00 AM | Cross Country

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Behind the lowest point total for any team at the ACC Championship since 2003, the Syracuse men's cross country team dominated its way to the 2017 ACC Championship – the program's sixth-straight conference title, fifth ACC title, and eighth conference championship in the last nine seasons.

Men's Results | Women's Results

In addition, Justyn Knight repeated as ACC men's cross country champion, his eighth conference title between cross country and track. Paige Stoner also became the first woman in program history to win an individual conference title, ACC or BIG EAST, pacing the women to fourth place overall.

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— Syracuse XC/Track (@CuseXCTF) October 27, 2017

"If we were planning something this is just about what we'd have wanted," said head coach Chris Fox. "A little mistake here or there, but to have Justyn win, Paige win and the men win their fifth in a row was outstanding. The women are also getting really close, just 15 points out of second. We've had a lot of injuries, a lot of illnesses and the future looks good for the women, while the men just keep doing their thing."

The men's team collected just 27 points, putting all-five scorers in the top nine overall. The team was so dominant, that if you combined the other 14 ACC schools (119 runners) and raced them against the Orange, Syracuse still would have won the conference title by a point. The point total is also the lowest at any conference championship meet in school history.

Justyn Knight paced the Orange over the 8k course, staying near the front and taking control with 2k remaining. He crossed the line in 23:13.0 for the win. Colin Bennie was not far off, taking bronze and finishing in 23:17.1. Aidan Tooker took sixth in 23:29.8, Philo Germano finished eighth in 23:29.8 and Joe Dragon placed ninth in 23:42.2 to easily win the title. Dominic Hockenbury placed 20th overall (24:01.4) and Iliass Aouani was strong in his season debut taking 22nd overall (24:03.4). Knight, Bennie, Tooker, Germano, Dragon and Hockenbury earned All-ACC honors by way of finishing in the top-21 overall.

Stoner won her race in similar fashion to Knight, hanging around the lead pack for the first 4k of the 6k women's race before seizing the lead with little more than a kilometer remaining. She held off Louisville's Dorcas Wasike for the win, finishing in 19:52.0. Shannon Malone also turned in a top-10 performance, finishing in seventh overall with a mark of 20:11.7. Behind her, Rachel Bonner (27th/21:00.8), Madeleine Davison (30th/21:04.6) and Eva Scott (72nd/21:57.2) rounded out the Syracuse scoring.

The Syracuse men are now just the third team in ACC history to win five-straight championships. 'Cuse is also now owning the fifth most titles of any of the active 15 member schools and sixth most conference titles total despite only being in the league for five years. The historic day sets up for the championship portion of the Orange season to continue, with the NCAA Northeast Regionals in Buffalo coming in two weeks and the Orange returning to this course for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 18.