TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Southern College women's cross country team took on arguably its toughest field so far this season with several strong NCAA Division I programs and a number of Sunshine State Conference teams competing at the Florida State University Invitational Friday morning. The Moccasins finished eighth among the 35 teams including topping nine NCAA Division I institutions and finishing as the third NCAA Division II squad.
Junior
Emma Mussante was the top Moccasin finisher as she crossed the line 24
th overall with a time of 18:17.5 on the 5K course. Redshirt junior
Ellie Fluman was the next FSC finisher as she placed 48
th in the 335-member field after clocking in at 18:47.9.
Graduate student
Cheyenne Young came in nine seconds later at 18:56.2 while placing 61st overall. Freshman
Grace Reed kept the nine second theme going as she came in nine seconds behind Young at 19:05.1 while taking 72
nd overall. The final scoring Moccasin was junior
Mya Stam who crossed the finish line in 19:13.7, just eight seconds behind Reed to take 77
th.
Freshman
Emma Nales-Torchio finished just outside the top-five for the Mocs as she placed 93
rd overall while posting a time of 19:27.9 to finish sixth on the squad. The Mocs' seventh and eighth finishers finished back-to-back and within a tenth of a second of one another as freshmen
Kira Mothershed and
Emma Pfeiffer placed 100
th and 101
st, respectively. Mothershed clocked in at 19:32.4 while Pfeiffer came in at 19:32.5. The Moccasins had five additional runners in the 335-member field as well.
Southeastern Conference member LSU took the top team prize as the Tigers compiled 27 points to best fellow SEC member Florida who turned in 42 points. Florida International rounded out the top-three with 106 points. Sunshine State Conference member Tampa took fourth with 110 points and was the top NCAA Division II finisher. The next three finishers included Miami (170 pts.), Palm Beach Atlantic (222 pts.) and the hosts Florida State (241 pts.). The Moccasins came in with 259 points to secure eighth place, just one point ahead of USF who collected 260 points.
The Moccasins will next be in action next Saturday, Oct. 7 at the UAH Invitational in Huntsville, Ala. The women's race is currently scheduled for 9:50 a.m. (EST).
FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE FINISHERS
