Women's cross country team ready to compete in national tournament

The Eastern Florida State College women's cross country team will compete in the NJCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Championships Saturday morning in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Titans are coming off their second straight Region 8 title and are ready to make their second appearance at the national tournament.

"I am excited, we are healthy now and a much different team than we were a month ago. I am interested to see how they do because we only have six but all six are ready to run on Saturday," Eastern Florida State College women's cross country coach Doug Butler said.

Eastern Florida State College placed 19^th in their inaugural national tournament and are back looking for a better showing on Saturday.

Sophomore Rachel Starr won the Region 8 individual title with a 5K time of 19 minutes, 33.2 seconds. Teammate Marlie Gonzalez finished third in the Division I race and Amelia Shephard finished sixth in the Division I race.

"Rachel is back from injury and is very hard on herself, she wants to outwork everyone and I like that but we have had to slow her down and make sure she is healthy," Butler said. "She is firing on all six cylinders now and I expect big things from her and the team on Saturday."

The Titans will be back at John Hunt Park for the second time this season and ran really well there in September. Starr and Gonzalez each had one of their best times of the season at the Southern Showcase and are hoping to do the same on Saturday.

Saturday's national tournament women's race will begin at 10:30 a.m.