Women's cross country team places second at FGC Invitational

The Eastern Florida State College women's cross country team finished second at the FGC Invitational in Lake City on Friday.

The Titans had three runners finish in the top 11 as they finished behind Gulf Coast State College in the meet.

Malinda Underwood finished in fourth place for the Titans with a time of 20 minutes, 24.30 seconds in the race. It was Underwood's best run of the season and first top five finish.

"Malinda had a great race, she knows she can go even faster so I think the next couple of weeks will be good for her," Eastern Florida State College women's cross country coach Doug Butler said.

Teammate Aubrey Orcutt finished in eighth place with a season-best run of 21:02.00 with Rori Pandolfini placing 11^th overall in 21:12.

Ember Michaels placed 14^th overall in 21:56.60 and Maddison Lusk was 24^th overall in 22:50. Kyla Grace Waymire finished in 23:41.60 while teammate Liz Morales was right behind her at 23:44.60. Abigail Derisme finished in 24:38.

"Rori had an off day but glad she had a bad day at Alligator Lake and not in Tallahassee in two weeks," Butler said. "Ember had a great race and came through as did Maddy Lusk so she is almost back to 100 percent. It was nice, I am very pleased with the girls."

Florida State College at Jacksonville's Mei Chiang won the individual title, finishing in 18:31.30.

"It is kind of hard going up against the big NCAA Division I schools so we got to run against other junior college teams today and it was a nice mental boost for the girls. They are feeling pretty good heading into the championships," Butler said.

Eastern Florida State College will compete at the FCSAA Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee on Friday, Oct. 24.