Men's cross country to run at national championships Saturday

The Eastern Florida State College men's cross country team will compete for a national title on Saturday in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

The Titans will compete in the NJCAA Division II Men's Cross Country Championships at Lakeside Golf Course in Iowa on Saturday.

Eastern Florida State Colege qualified after a fifth-place finish at the FCSAA Championships in Tallahassee.

"I want a better outcome from our guys than we had in Regional meet," Eastern Florida State College men's cross country coach Doug Butler said. "We tapered this week after some good practices, I am excited to see what we can do."

Freshman Jaiden McKee is coming off a season-best run at the championships, finishing in 27 minutes and 16.4 seconds. Teammate Morgan Vici also had one if his better finishes at the championships with his run of 28:17.7 and will be running his final 8K as a Titan.

"Jaiden is more confident, he didn't have a superb race but he had a good race and knows he can go faster," Butler said. "They are all pretty healthy, so there is no reason they can't run better and put together a good day."

It will be the fourth straight season that the Titans will be running in the national championships and first year competing in the NJCAA Division II race.