Women's cross country team competes in national tournament Saturday

The Eastern Florida State College women's cross country team will compete in the NJCAA Division I National Championship Saturday in Richmond, Virginia.

It is the third straight season that the women's cross country team will compete in the national tournament and are looking to improve on last year's 15th place finish. The Titans have had a higher finish in each of the first two appearances at the national tournament.

"Amelia (Shephard), Rori (Pandolfini), Bella (Narvaez) and Marlie (Gonzalez) have been really consistent all season and run well together, Amelia has a really strong finish and Marlie killed it in Regions so I am hoping the four run together and then Trinity (Trett) or Abby (Derisme) close the deal and we will be ok," Eastern Florida State College women's cross country coach Doug Butler said.

Gonzalez will be running her final race as a Titan and the sophomore has mixed emotions heading into the race.

"I am a bit sad this will be my final 5k at Eastern Florida State College but it has been really good, we are all really close and have built a bond which helps when we are in races," said Gonzalez, who plans to continue her education at the University of Florida. "I just want to run to my full capacity, I don't want to cross the finish thinking I could have gone faster. I want us to have a good average and just know that we did our best."

It will also be the final races for Shephard, Narvaez and Sierra Kohler who have all run for the Titans the past two seasons.

The women's race will begin at 2:30 p.m. at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia.