Aouani Races for 10k Title on Wednesday

Iliass Aouani will look for an NCAA Championship on Wednesday night in the men's 10,000-meters.

The 'Cuse junior is one of 24 who will toe the line on Wednesday night in Austin, Texas, for the NCAA 10k final. Already owning the school and ACC records in the event from performances this season, Aouani has the seventh-fastest time in the field, thanks to his mark of 28:25.36 at the Stanford Invitational.

The ACC Champion will be challenged by a number of strong competitors on Wednesday, led by a trio from BYU that own the three-fastest marks in the event. Rory Linkletter (28:12.42), Conner Mantz (28:18.18) and Clayton Young (28:18.50) own the three-best times. Alabama's Gilbert Kigen – who won the NCAA East Prelim last week – has the fourth-best mark. Tyler Day of Northern Arizona and Arkansas' Gilbert Boit are the other two who have a better seed time than Aouani on the year.

A native of Milan, Italy, Aouani is one of two ACC competitors in the event, with Boston College's Sean Burke racing as well.

Aouani safely qualified in the No. 12 spot at the NCAA East Prelims last week. Before that, he had faced Mantz, Young, Kigen, Day, Boit and Burke in head-to-head racing on the year, as well. Running to his seed would make him a first team All-American. The Orange men have seen an athlete earn first or second team All-America honors at every outdoor championships this decade.

Action gets underway on Wednesday at 10:08 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2.

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Iliass Aouani

Syracuse University Athletics