Saucony Flo50 No. 7 ranked Aidan Tooker of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. verbally committed to No. 3 ranked Syracuse University on the same day he set a course record of 15:04 at the Queensbury Invitational.
The senior owns personal best times of 8:51.52 for 3200m, 4:11 for the Mile, 9:06.37 for 3000m Steeplechase and 15:04.05 for 5k XC. He is the defending New York indoor state champion for 3200m and placed runner-up in the 3000m Steeplechase at the outdoor state meet this past spring to national champion Jack Jibb. Tooker garnered All-American honors with a fourth place finish in the New Balance Nationals Indoor 2 Mile and he is a three-time competitor at NXN.
Proud to say that I have verbally committed to continue my education and running career at Syracuse University!
-- Aidan Tooker (@AidanTooker) September 26, 2015"I feel like I fit in with the team and their goals," he said. "I connected with the coaches and I have complete confidence in them. Overall, I felt at home at Syracuse and I'm beyond excited to officially be a part of the team."
Saratoga Springs is about a two and a half hour drive from Syracuse, New York.
"The weather is unpredictable [in upstate New York] and you get the extremes in every season so you're gonna be tough as nails."
The announcement came after a day that saw both Tooker and the Orange cruise to impressive results.
Breaking records for @AidanTooker, #Saratoga, at the Queensbury Invitational XC meet pic.twitter.com/15YNkveoEb
-- Erica Miller (@EricaPhotog) September 26, 2015Tooker cut nearly a full minute off his course best at Queensbury High School to set a new course record in 15:04.
"I was striding out and warming up when I really realized that this was my last race on that course," he said. "I didn't know the exact time. The state meet was held there in 2013 which is where the record comes from and I believe it was 15:06. I went out and ran like it was my last opportunity. The time just happened."
Welcome to the family @AidanTooker !
-- Justyn Knight (@justyn_knight) September 26, 2015The Orange men crushed the field at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown, placing three runners in the top four and five in the top 10 to score a total of 24 points for the team title. Sophomore Justyn Knight won the individual title in 23:51.
Tooker's announcement marks the first major commitment for Cuse, although several of the nation's top recruits are reportedly considering the school.
"Good schools and good programs attract great recruits." he said. "Having had the draw that I did to the program has to make me believe that others will also. I totally believe that they are going to have a great recruiting class."
