HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The 26
th-ranked Florida Southern College men's cross country team traveled to Huntsville, Ala., to compete in the Southern Showcase against several of the top programs from throughout the Southeast. Junior
Christian Giller led the way Friday morning as he placed 20
th overall, out-pacing several NCAA Division I runners. Giller's time of 24:29.10 is the fourth fastest 8K time in program history, only trailing three times set by former Florida Southern Moccasin
Mason Jones (2017-21).
FSC finished 11
th overall taking down NCAA Division I programs North Alabama (13
th). Chattanooga (15
th), Samford (16
th), Louisiana Monroe (17
th), USF (18
th), Florida Gulf Coast (20
th), Memphis (21
st), Western Kentucky (23
rd), Troy (25
th), Morehead State (26
th) and Austin Peay (34
th). The Mocs were the third NCAA Division II team in the event with 11
th-ranked Lee taking seventh overall and 21
st-ranked Anderson placing eighth.
Junior
Chris Colavita was the second Moccasin across the line for the second straight race as he finished 34-spots behind Giller in 54
th while stopping the clock at a personal best 24:59.25. Graduate student
Elijah De La Cerda, who placed fourth on the team in race number one of the season, moved up one spot to third as he placed 109
th overall while turning in a time of 25:40.42. Just six spots later, sophomore
Cole Summers placed 115
th and was the fourth Moccasin to cross the line, one spot up from fifth in race one. Summers crossed the line in 25:43.27, surpassing his previous personal best by over 20 seconds. The final member of the scoring five was junior
Caleb Brady who came across just seven spots behind Summers in 122
nd. Brady completed the 8K course in 25:46.05, just missing out on a personal best.
The next two Moccasin finishers went back-to-back in 147
th and 148
th. Sophomore
Declan Ziomek came across first as he stopped the clock at 26:02.96 while sophomore
Simon DeVoss finished just behind in 26:03.59. Just eight spots back, junior
Anthony Matthew came across as he took 156
th in 26:08.42.
Ninth-ranked Alabama took home both the team and individual championships as senior Victor Kiprop took home the individual title in 23:25.87 while the team finished with just 41 points, 66 points ahead of second-place Belmont. Georgia Tech rounded out the top three teams.
The Florida Southern men's cross country team will be back in action Friday, Sept. 27 as the Mocs compete at the FSU XC Invite in Tallahassee, Fla. The men's race is scheduled to begin at 7:40 a.m.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE FINISHERS
