Men's cross country team wins Region 8 Division I title
The Eastern Florida State College men's cross country team won the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Division I Championship for the second straight year
The Eastern Florida State College men's cross country team won the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Division I championship for the second straight year on Tuesday morning in Tallahassee.
The Titans won the Division I title and placed second overall with all five runners finishing in the top 17 at Apalachee Regional Park. The Titans have earned a spot in the NJCAA Division I Championship.
Sophomore Dayton Law finished third overall in the 8K race as he was one of three to break away from the pack at the 7K race and crossed the line with a season-best time of 26 minutes, 17.7 seconds.
It is the second straight year that Law has won the Division I race and finished in the top five overall at the Region 8 meet.
Teammate Simon DeVoss placed second in the Division I race and 11th overall with a time of 27:50.80. Gabriel Garcia finished fourth in the Division I race and 14th overall in a time of 28:05.80 while Carter Vigneri was fifth in the Division I race in 28:06.20, good for 15th overall. Anthony Bergnes made his way up through the field to finish sixth in the Division I race and 17th overall. After a slower start, Bergnes had moved up 12 spots after 5K and another five at the finish with a time of 28:21.30.
"We were 27:40 team average, I would love to be around 27 flat and believe we are capable of doing that, We just didn't compete like we are capable of competing," Eastern Florida State College men's cross country coach Doug Butler said. "I am hoping that it fuels them a bit, they were not happy with just winning the region title. I hope they take that with them to the national tournament because we have high expectations, I believe we can be a top 10 team if we run what we are capable of running."
Trevor Cross finished 23rd overall in 28:42.5, Matt Weiler ran his best time of the season at 28:54.9 and finished 27th while teammate Chase Hill also had a personal best of 29:57.6. Hill finished with teammates Nicholas Spence (29.50.6) and Ethan Heise (29:57.60).
Eastern Florida State College will run in the NJCAA Division I Championships on Nov. 11 at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Alabama.
