On the second day of the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational, the men’s distance runners wrapped up the weekend for Syracuse in underwhelming fashion.

Syracuse’s runners participated in three events—the 800-meter, the mile, and the 3,000-meter—on Saturday to complete a weekend highlighted by Paige Stoner, Justyn Knight and Kadejhia Sellers’ strong runs on Friday.

The men’s 3,000-meter, billed as the main event for Saturday, featured Joe Dragon, Kevin James, Dominic Hockenbury, Simon Smith and Jared Lautenslager as well as SU-alum Adam Visokay.

Visokay recorded the fastest time of them all, taking third place with an 8:01:41 time. Dragon (8:13:00) and James (8:14:51), the Orange’s fastest two for the event, finished a second apart in 17th and 19th place, respectively. They both recorded Top 10 times among college runners.

Dragon edged his previous fastest time in the 3,000-meter by .28 seconds to secure a new personal record. James, on the other hand, came about a second short of his personal best.

Hockenbury (8:23:31) and Smith (8:25:13) both finished in the top 50 overall, while Lautenslager brought up the rear for the Orange in 71st place out of over 170 runners.

Noah Affolder, a freshman from Carthage, New York, impressed in the mile with a 4:03:48 time, good for 16th place overall, eighth among collegiate athletes. Nathan Henderson and Andy Paladino also ran the mile for the Orange. Henderson (4:10:54) and Paladino (4:18:04) finished 55th and 124th respectively.

Two weeks ago, Justyn Knight set the bar in the mile with a 3:55:82, breaking his own school record.

Additionally, sophomore Sam Somera competed in the men’s 800-meter race, placing 197th out of 230 runners. His 2:02:43 time trailed the leader by about 15 seconds.

Published on February 10, 2018 at 8:24 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman