SAINT LEO – Florida Southern finished in 26th place at the NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country National Championship with 656 points here Saturday at The Abbey Golf Course at Saint Leo University. The 26th place finish is the best for the Moccasins since the 2010 squad, led by current head coach Ben Martucci, came in 23rd place.
"We ran pretty well, all things considered," said Martucci. "Bobby's leg was bothering him some," said Martucci of his top runner, Bobby Ormsby.
"I think the course suprised a lot of people," added the fourth-year Moccasin head coach, "Plus, the temperature warmed up considerably over the course of the race."
The top six Moccasin finishers in the race are all underclassmen. "I look forward to another season with this group," said Martucci.
Freshman Festus Kemboi led the Moccasins, coming in 61st place out of 248 runners with a time of 31:42.2 over the course in just his second collegiate 10K. His time is the second fastest 10K for any men's cross country in FSC history, surpassed only by Eric Walker's time of 30:58.1 at the 2006 NCAA National Championship. Kemboi's 61st place finish is also the highest individual finish at an NCAA National Championship Meet since Walker took 41st place in that same 2006 event.
Sophomore Dean McGregor was the second Moccasin to finish, turning in a time of 32:40.8 to take 123rd place while red-shirt junior Evan Quinones was 160th with a 33:12.3 time.
Red-shirt junior Bobby Ormsby placed 188th with a time of 33:50.1 while the fifth Moccasin counter was junior John Bryant who finished in 219th place at 34:37.8 over the 10K course. Freshman Warran Grajalez was 222nd at 34:47.6 and senior Cody Van Natter was 234th with a 36:06.2 time.
Adams State won the men's national championship for a seventh time in the last nine years and a 12th time overall with 54 points. Grand Valley State took runner-up honors with 79 points while Colorado Mines, 2015 national champions, finished in third place with 154 points.
Rounding out the top five teams were Chico State (166 pts.) and Alaska-Anchorage (222 pts.). A total of 32 schools qualifited for the national meet.
Vincent Kiprop of Missouri Southern won the men's individual title with a time of 29:07.4 while Alfred Chelanga of Shorter finished runner-up at 29:36.3. The duo flip-flopped their match-up from last year's national when Chelanga took the national title and Kiprop placed second. Jams Ngandu of Tiffin finished third with a 29:52.7 time.
