MELBOURNE, Fla. – Junior
Owen Allen led the Florida Southern men's cross country team to a second place finish in its season opener Saturday morning at the Eastern Florida State College Fall Classic. Allen took second overall while the Moccasins took second as a team.
Allen's second place finish is by far his top career cross country performance at Florida Southern. The junior has been a part of the program since 2019 but has seen limited action over the last three years. His previous top individual finish at a meet was ninth overall at the FLRunners Invitational as a freshman. Allen completed the 8K distance in a personal best time of 25:40.8, nearly two minutes faster than his previous best time.
The next two finishers for the Mocs were a pair of talented freshmen including the fastest freshman head coach
Matt Levassiur has recruited to Florida Southern in
Christian Giller and Stuart, Fla. product
Anthony Matthew. Giller finished the course in 26:02.6 to place sixth overall while Matthew crossed in 26:10.7 and placed one spot back in seventh.
Junior
Bryson Yamnitz finished just inside the top-10 as he took ninth overall in 26:19.9. A quartet of Mocs took 12
th through 17
th including senior
Alex Guy (12
th, 26:36.7), freshman
Nekhi Perry (13
th, 26:41.2), sophomore
Caden Kwiatkowski (14
th, 26:43.0), freshman
Chris Colavita (16
th, 26:48.9) and sophomore
Seth Augustynowski (17
th, 26:51.9).
Freshman
Caleb Brady finished two spots behind Augustynowski in 19
th as he stopped the clock at 26:58.2. Another newcomer, senior transfer
Billy Adams rounded out the top-25 as he took 25
th overall in 27:18.7.
The final four finishers for the Mocs were
Luke Dickinson (33
rd, 27:52.0), sophomore
Aiden Redmond (34
th, 27:56.7), sophomore
Jaylen Caneus (36
th, 28:15.9) and senior
Brady Zimmerman (38
th, 28:21.4). Dickinson finished six spots ahead of his brother Charlie Dickinson who was competing for Eastern Florida. C. Dickinson took 39th in 28:22.3. Luke and Charlie's mother Maggie Dickinson took 66th overall in the women's race as she is also competing for Eastern Florida.
The Mocs finished just seven points behind Embry-Riddle who took home the team title. ERAU finished with 29 total points just ahead of FSC's 36 points. The Mocs had a comfortable lead over third place Flagler College which finished with 80 points.
Florida Southern will be back in action in two weeks at the Saint Leo Invite. The event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24 in Saint Leo, Fla.
