LAKELAND, Fla. - Senior
Mason Jones led the Florida Southern men's cross country team to a third place finish as he ran away with the individual title at his home course in Lakeland, Florida. He destroyed the Holloway Park eight-kilometer course record with a blistering time of 24:25.79. The performance was the first ever sub-25 8k recorded at Holloway Park. He now owns 4 of 5 fastest 8k times in Florida Southern history.
Jones beat two former Sunshine State Conference individual champions in Saint Leo's Shane Bracken (2019) and Embry-Riddle's Shaun Bullock (2018) as he captured his second title in a row.
The top three teams were separated by only 8 points as Embry-Riddle captured the team title with a score of 46 points for their top 5, followed by Saint Leo (50), then Florida Southern (55).
Joining Jones on the SSC All-Championship team are fellow seniors
Joshua Wagner and
Mitchell Kozik. They finished 7th and 8th with times of 25:19 and 25:27, respectively, which is a course-best for both men.
Alex Guy posted his best SSC championship performance to date coming in 19th place with a time of 26:17. Less than a second back was junior
Bryson Yamnitz in 20th place posting a time of 26:18.
Rounding out the top 7 was sophomore
Noah Ellenback in 26:49 (31) and junior
Brady Zimmerman in 26:58 (33).
The men are back in action in two weeks for the NCAA Division II South Regional Championship hosted by Saint Leo on November 6th. The top three teams advance to the NCAA Division II Championship. The Mocs will need a big day as they likely need to beat both Embry-Riddle and Saint Leo to advance.
Florida Southern Individual Results
1 -
Mason Jones - 24:25.79
7 -
Joshua Wagner - 25:19.45
8 -
Mitchell Kozik - 25:27.56
19 -
Alex Guy - 26:17.87
20 -
Bryson Yamnitz - 26:18.83
31 -
Noah Ellenback - 26:49.89
33 -
Brady Zimmerman - 26:58.03
52 -
Seth Augustynowski - 27:55.85
57 -
Adam Berriz - 28:06.49
62 -
David Pautienus - 28:19.93
65 -
Jaylen Caneus - 28:30.85
73 -
Nicholas Dragowski - 29:08.36
74 -
William Lynch - 29:15.80
78 -
Luke Dickinson - 29:21.43
83 -
Keith Kelley - 29:41.89
90 - James Simpson- 30:25.72
Team Results
1 - Embry-Riddle: 46
2 - Saint Leo: 50
3 - Florida Southern: 55
4 - Tampa: 90
5 - Lynn: 145
6 - Nova Southeastern: 176
7 - Palm Beach Atlantic: 177
8 - Florida Tech: 210
