LAKELAND, Fla. – Racing on its home course for the second time this season, the Florida Southern College women's cross country team took fifth overall Friday night at the SSC Preview Meet hosted by the Moccasins. FSC finished as the second-best NCAA Division II team in the race as NCAA Division I foes the University of North Florida and the University of South Florida finished first and second, respectively.
FSC has been struggling with some illness within the team this week and the Mocs also rested several of their top runners, who are focused on next weekend's Sunshine State Conference Championship, but FSC was still able to produce a solid result against some strong competition.
Sophomore
Rachel Hockenberry led the way for FSC as she finished 25
th overall after completing the 6K course in 25:43.03. Just seven spots back in 32
nd, junior
Jinia Johnson crossed the line in 26:26.72. Graduate student
Carolina Titus came in just under 30 seconds behind Johnson and finished in 35
th at 26:56.20.
Sophomore
Caitlin Beery was the next Moccasin to cross the finish line as she completed the distance in 28:19.47 to take 54
th. Rounding out the FSC entries was senior
Marisa Kortright who turned in a time of 29:49.13 to take 71
st overall.
The overall team champions, UNF, scored 19 total points to best USF who turned in 40 points. Flagler was the top NCAA Division II team at the meet and the Saints scored 102 points. Pasco-Hernando State College took fourth with 145 points while the Mocs rounded out the top-five with 156 points. One other familiar team in the race included Palm Beach Atlantic (6
th, 167 pts.).
The Moccasins will next be in action next Saturday, Oct. 21 as they host the Sunshine State Conference Championship at Holloway Park. The race is scheduled to start at 8:45 a.m.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE FINISHERS
