Cross Country Hits Their Stride in Lake City, Men Earn Team Title
The weather was not the only thing great on Friday in Lake City, Florida as a well-executed race plan produced 13 personal records by Manta Rays and the men's team bought home the team title at the Alligator Lake Open.
In a challenging field that featured Region 8 rival Florida Gateway along with NCAA DII powers Barry University and St. Leo, the men's team used a 17:10 average and a 42 second pack time to win the meet with 29 points. The men's team was led by Benjamin Hale who set a blazing fast PR of 16:39, followed closely by Cole Fleming, Aiden Taggart, Camden Budd, and Christian Mayfield. Noah Looney and Kaydan Bowie also set new personal records.
The women's team was led by team captain Zahir Miller, but also featured big leaps among personal records from Gemma Neeld (23:01), Zoe Weaver, Faith Harrold, Ashtyn Parsons, Ava Banks, Lauren Hughes, and Tytiyonna Nesmith. Ellie Cardoza and Felicity Tipton ran season's best times. 23:17 team average and a 40 second pack time had the women's team finish closely behind Region 8 rival Central Florida.
"We started our end-of-season taper to prepare us for Regionals and Nationals and we saw the results today," said head coach Jody Hale. "13 PR's, tight pack times and a win for the men's team. The women's team had an astounding eight PR's and some of them were not by seconds but minutes. We are super excited to race at Regionals next week."
Next up is the 2024 FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida at Apalachee Region Park on Friday, October 25.
TFRRS | Alligator Lake Open Sponsored by Florida Gateway College - Meet Results
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