Rachel Starr leads women's cross country team to seventh place finish

Eastern Florida State College's Rachel Starr finished fourth in the NJCAA Women's Half Marathon National Championships at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Alabama.

The sophomore from Palm Bay finished with a time of one hour, 22 minutes and 49.8 seconds in her first half marathon as a runner.

"I felt surprisingly pretty good through the whole thing, my longest runs have been 16 miles so I am used to running that long but not with that much intensity, so I think it was more about timing. I was surprised at how good I felt," Starr said.

Starr became the program's first All-American with the finish.

"I was pretty excited, I didn't really have any expectations going into it because had never run a half marathon, but it was mainly just staying in it the entire way because it is so long," Starr said. "I figured based on results last year that I would be toward the front but really wanted to be an all American! I am very happy with that."

Teammates Isabella Narvaez and Marlie Gonzalez finished 40^th and 41^st overall respectively as Narvaez crossed in 1:39:31.6 and Gonzalez finished in 1:39:35.2.

Amelia Shephard was 52^nd overall in 1:41:33.6, Lauren Deal finished 69^th in 1:48:03.1 and Sierra Kohler was 86^th overall in 1:55:22.9.

It was the first half marathon for the team and the first time competing in the national championships.

"We beat some teams that beat us in the cross country meet so for the first time competing in the half marathon, I will take that," Eastern Florida State College women's cross country coach Doug Butler said.

The cross country team placed 15th in the Cross Country Championships last Friday and completed their season with this seventh place finish.