Baneet Bains’ 1st-place finish paces Syracuse in Duke, Friar Invitationals
Syracuse's Baneet Bains finished first in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase this weekend, leading SU's strong showing at the Duke and Friar Invitationals. Daily Orange File Photo
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On Friday and Saturday, Syracuse competed in the Duke and Friar Invitationals, posting some of its best performances of the season.
This time, Taleea Buxton and Baneet Bains headlined the group, both finishing in the top-3 in their respective events.
First, Buxton, a sophomore hurdler, finished the 100-meter hurdles in a personal-best 13.49 seconds. She captured third place in the event final at Duke on Saturday.
Meanwhile, at the Friar Invitational, Bains claimed the top spot in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:35.95, just ahead of teammate Justus Holden-Betts (10:37.58), who secured second.
Syracuse also had three runners in the final of the men’s 110-meter hurdles at the Duke Invitational. Naseem Smith led the way with a 14.22-second finish, narrowly edging out Isaiah Lewis (14.27) and Emanuel Joseph (14.32).
The 4×100-meter relay team of Malachi Coleman, Malachi James, Darrell Gill Jr. — who all compete on Syracuse’s football team — and James Nmah crossed the line in 40.75 to round out the Orange’s Saturday in Durham. The group is still just tenths of a second away from SU’s program record of 40.06 seconds, which was set in 2023.
In Providence, Olivia Joly posted a 10:18.01 time in the women’s 3,000-meter to take seventh overall, while Connell Alford (8:39.22) took eighth in the men’s race. In the mile, Solomon Holden-Betts also led a group of five Orange runners with a ninth-place time of 4:09.73.
Beatriz Fernandes (17:27.19) then placed 12th in the women’s 5000-meter. Olivia Shattuck (17:28.16), Lauren Augustyn (17:28.70) and Leah Futey (17:35.79) trailed closely behind, all setting personal bests in the event. Shayla Ford followed with a 1:00.72 time in the women’s 400-meter dash to finish 10th, too.
In the women’s 800-meter, Blake Parker (2:24.12) and Emily Rutkowski (2:25.25) both set new personal bests, while Lizzie Bigelow finished the women’s mile in 5:18.86, rounding out a strong weekend overall for the Orange.
