After Hurricane Ian caused cancellation of the South Florida State College Panther Invitational last week, the FSCJ cross country teams entered the USO Freedom 5k held at Riverfront Plaza on the banks of the St. John's River on Saturday. The 5,000 meter course offered an opportunity for the BlueWave to hone their hill running skills on the course which included both the Main Street and Acosta bridges.
The women's team was led by freshman Lynn Winkler who finished 2nd overall and 1st in her age group. She was followed closely by Kayleigh McWatters (2nd), Meghan Bonser (3rd), Whitney Mathis (4th), and Abigail Gray (11th).
In the men's race, sophomore Brennan Popik, coming off of last year's title in the Gate River Run and USATF National 15,000 meter Road Race Champion, finished 1st overall and led the men's team of Luke Williams (3rd), Jaxon McKim (4th), Adrian Figueroa (5th), Noe Benitez (6th), Corey Rhoads (8th), and Nicholas Terry (9th).
"Last Friday we didn't have a race to enter and we're lucky that this race fell on this weekend. We saw a very solid race effort on a course with 2 bridges!" commented Head Coach Jody Hale.
The FSCJ BlueWave cross country teams will complete their regular season on October 14 in Tampa at the University of South Florida Bulls Cross Country Invitational. The season will culminate with the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 XC Championships on October 28 and NJCAA National Cross Country Championships on November 12 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.