The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Syracuse Alumni win medals in Tokyo Olympics
SYRACUSE, NY >> The first Olympian in Syracuse Softball history also became the first Olympic medalist early Tuesday morning when Canada earned a 3-2 win over Mexico. Jenna Caira ’12 pitched one and two thirds innings of relief allowing one earned run on three hits in the victory. Canada has appeared in five Olympic Games but Tokyo 2020 marks the first time the Canadian’s bring home a medal.
Canada led 2-0 after two innings but Mexico cut the lead in half in the top of the third inning. Caira entered the circle in the fourth and had a clean slate in her first inning. She ran into some trouble in the when she gave up a leadoff single to centerfield. A sacrifice bunt put the tying run in scoring position for Mexico and three batters later
Suzannah Brookshire drove in Mexico’s second run with a single to right field tying the game 2-2. Danielle Lawrie came in to close the game after Mexico tied things up. Canada went ahead in the bottom half of the fifth to take back the lead and Lawrie’s struck out four batters over the final 2.1 innings to secure the win.
Caria finishes her Olympic debut with a 1-1 record in five appearances with a 1.24 earned run average in 11.1 innings.
Caira, a four-year letterwinnner for the Orange from 2009-12, began playing for her native Canada in 2009. With softball’s return to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Caira made her first Olympic squad. The all-time leader for wins, appearances, shutouts and innings pitched at Syracuse now adds Olympic medalist to her long list of career accomplishments. Caira was the first player in Big East history to record 1,000 career strikeouts and was named NFHCA All-american as a senior in 2012. Caira has been playing with Team Canada since 2009.
Softball made its return to the Summer Olympics for the first time since 2008 this year and will take a hiatus for 2024 before returning to Olympic competition in Los Angeles in 2028.
Already a bronze medalist in the women’s individual triathlon, Katie Zaferes ’12 doubled down on Friday night, winning silver in the mixed relay.
In the inaugural Olympic race for the mixed relay, Zaferes teamed up with Kevin Mcdowell, Taylor Knibb and Morgan Pearson teamed up to win the silver medal. Great Britain won gold, while France earned silver.
The Orange alum became third American woman to ever medal in the triathlon at the Olympics earlier this week.
Zaferes is the fifth Orange alumni to win multiple medals in a single Olympics, but first to do so since the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. Meyer Prinstein (2x; 1900 Paris — triple jump/long jump, 1904 St. Louis — triple jump/ long jump), Charlie Reidpath (1912 Stockholm — 400m/4×400-meter relay), Chet Bowman (1924 Paris — 100m.4×400meter relay) and Ray Barbuti (1928 Amsterdam — 4×100/4×400-meter relays) are the others to accomplish the feat.
At Syracuse, she was the Orange’s first USTFCCCA Northeast Region performer of the Year, earning the honor in cross country in 2009. She won the NCAA Northeast Regional that season and leading the Orange to the team title, the first in program history, and the Orange women’s second-ever trip to the NCAA Cross Country Championships. She then went on to be an All-american in the 3000-meter steeplechase for ‘Cuse as well.
Zaferes’ two medals, plus Jenna Caira’s bronze with Canada softball brings the medal count for Orange Olympians to three, tying the 2008 Olympics for the most medals in a single games. Syracuse also had Hattie Taylor take fourth for Great Britain in rowing, with Jerami Grant, Kayla Alexander and Justyn Knight still competing or yet to compete.