We Are The Champions! Men’s Track Captures Inaugural SSC Outdoor Track Championship

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's track team made history Saturday as the Moccasins became the first Sunshine State Conference Men's Outdoor Track Champion after an exciting day and night in Daytona Beach, Fla.  The event was held at the Embry-Riddle Track & Field Complex and kicked off at 7 a.m. Seven Moccasins earned a total off nine all-conference honors including three first team honors and six second team. Junior Christian Giller led the way with a pair of individual championships in the 5,000m and 10,000m to gain 20 points towards the team championship. Finishing just four points behind was graduate student Elijah De La Cerda who captured the 3,000m steeplechase title while taking third in the 5,000m.
 
The individual champion in each event is named First Team All-SSC while the second and third place finishers earn Second Team honors. The Moccasins scored in all seven events in which they had an entrant while FSC was unable to pick up points in four events in which they did not qualify due to being a distance-focused program. The Moccasins won the team title with 111 points to finish 17 points ahead of second-place Tampa (94 pts.). The Spartans just edged the host Embry-Riddle which finished with 91 points in third. Rounding out the top-eight were Lynn (72 pts.), Florida Tech (43 pts.), Nova Southeastern (35 pts.), Barry (17 pts.) and Palm Beach Atlantic (1 pts.).
 
FSC scored 31 points in both the 10,000m and 3,000m steeplechase which opened up the championship and gave the Moccasins an early lead. The Mocs scored 19 combined points over the next three events to sit in second place heading into the second-to-last event of the evening. Embry-Riddle led with 86 points with just the 5,000m and 4x400m relay remaining. FSC sat in second with 81 points while Tampa was in a close third at 80 points.
 
The Moccasins took five of the top-six spots in the 5K to score 28 points and put themselves in an uncatchable position with 109 points. Embry-Riddle scored just two points in the event and sat in third while Tampa jumped into second with nine points. The final event, the 4x400m relay, saw Tampa finish fourth, Embry-Riddle sixth and FSC seventh. The two points gave FSC 111 points while Tampa earned five points to move to 94 points while Embry-Riddle scored three for a final total of 91 points.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Location: Embry-Riddle Track & Field Complex | Daytona Beach, Fla.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• The opening event of the championship was the 10,000m as junior Christian Giller, sophomore Dylan Bailey, and sophomore Cole Summers swept the podium. Giller claimed the individual title in 31:27.67 while Bailey and Summers earned Second Team All-SSC honors after crossing the line in 31:30.75 and 31:40.94, respectively. Freshman Eli Zuppa just missed out on All-Conference honors as he placed fourth in 31:48.05. The final two finishers for FSC were sophomore William Canales and redshirt senior Joshua Kraver. Canales earned two team points with a seventh-place finish while clocking in at 32:01.80 and Kraver placed 10^th with a time of 32:21.62.
• Graduate student Elijah De La Cerda, junior Caleb Brady and sophomore Dillon Mantei swept the podium in the 3,000m steeplechase as De La Cerda claimed the championship and First Team All-SSC honors in 9:26.15, the seventh-fastest time in program history. Brady and Mantei earned Second Team All-SSC honors while rounding out the podium. Brady turned in the ninth-best time in program history at 9:35.94 while Mantei clocked in at 9:37.03. Freshman Tyler Gaines finished just outside the podium and all-conference honors as he placed fourth at 9:42.42. The final scorer in the event was sophomore Cameron Raney who claimed seventh at 9:59.05. The final FSC runner was graduate student Luke Dickinson who placed 12^th in 10:17.78.
• The opening event of the afternoon/evening session was the 4x100m relay where Gaines, Mantei, Bailey and Dickinson combined to post the seventh-fastest relay time in program history at 52.68.
• Junior Anthony Matthew led four Mocs in the 1,500m as he earned Second Team All-SSC honors by placing second in 3:52.99. Senior Aiden Redmond and sophomore Simon DeVoss picked up points for the Mocs as Redmond (3:56.50) placed seventh followed by DeVoss (3:57.37) in eighth. Junior Chris Colavita just missed out on points as he placed ninth after turning in a time of 3:58.54.
• Matthew led the way again, this time in the 800m. The junior took fourth overall to score five points for the Mocs while turning in the sixth-fastest time in program history at 1:52.52. Freshman Andrew Nyland finished just outside the top-10 but broke the FSC Freshman Record held previously by Mason Jones (2018-22). Nyland took 11^th while setting a new record at 1:55.29. The final two finishers for FSC were freshman Daniel Welling (17^th/1:57.55) and DeVoss (20^th/1:58.25).
• The championship winning event for the Mocs came in the form of the 5,000m. Giller earned his second SSC Championship of the day as he claimed first in 14:37.05. De La Cerda earned his first Second Team All-SSC honors as he placed third in the event while crossing the finish in 15:00.57. Zuppa, Colavita and Redmond went back-to-back-to-back in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Zuppa crossed the line in 15:05.48 while Colavita stopped the clock at 15:07.31. Redmond was right on Colavita's heels at 15:07.34. The final FSC finisher was Brady who placed 11^th at 15:32.97.
• The final event of the night was the 4x400m relay which saw the Mocs post the second-fastest time in program history at 3:28.21 while taking seventh. DeVoss, Nyland, Brady and Matthew combined for the time.

 
UP NEXT:
The Moccasins will be back in action Friday and Saturday, April 25-26, at the Knights Invite hosted by UCF in Orlando, Fla.