GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Syracuse seniors Justyn Knight and Paige Stoner have been selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Performers of the Year.
 
Both Knight and Stoner were individual ACC champions, and Knight captured the NCAA Division I Men’s Championship with a first-place finish at Louisville on Nov. 18. Stoner placed 17th in the women’s NCAA competition, leading all ACC runners.
 
In addition, Syracuse’s Chris Fox was voted the ACC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year for a fifth-straight season, while NC State Laurie Henes was tabbed as the ACC Women’s Coach of the Year for the second year in a row and the third time overall.
 
Knight, who hails from Vaughan, Ontario, earned his third-consecutive ACC Performer of the Year honor following an outstanding fall season highlighted by the national title and three other first-place finishes, including the ACC Championship and the NCAA Northeast Regional. Also voted the National Division I Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA, Knight took the NCAA title with a 10k time of 29:00.2 at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park on Nov. 18 to become the first NCAA men’s cross country champion from the ACC and the first from a current member school since North Carolina’s Jack Milne in 1947.
 
Stoner, a native of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, posted the highest ever finish by a Syracuse woman in this year’s NCAA Championship with her 17th place 6k time of 19:52. That followed her ACC Championship on Oct. 27 in which she also posted a winning time of 19:52 on the same Sawyer Park course in Louisville. Stoner became the first Syracuse woman to claim a cross country championship in any conference and is the second women’s All-American in program history.
 
Fox, who has been at helm of the Syracuse program since 2005, directed the Orange to its fifth-straight ACC title. Over the past eight seasons, Fox has guided the Orange men's cross country team to eight conference championships, including five-straight ACC titles and an NCAA championship in 2015.
 
Henes, in her 12th year as the Wolfpack’s women’s cross country head coach, led NC State to its second consecutive ACC championship and 23rd overall. Henes’ Wolfpack placed eighth at this year’s NCAA Championship, marking the program’s third consecutive top-10 finish.
 
Both Fox and Henes were also recognized as regional coaches of the year by the USTFCCCA.