LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's and women's track teams are heading to Daytona Beach, Fla. for the 2026 Sunshine State Conference Outdoor Track Championships. The two-day event will take place tomorrow, April 24, and Saturday, April 25, at ERAU Track & Field Complex. Embry-Riddle will host the meet, which begins at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.
In all, there will be 24 champions crowned, 12 each for the men and women. The first event of the meet will be the men's 110m hurdles at 4 p.m. The men will run first in each event in 2026 after doing the opposite at last year's event. The opening day will feature prelims in 12 events while finals will be run in the 3,000m steeplechase and the 10,000m.
Nine programs, Barry, Eckerd, Embry-Riddle, Florida Southern, Lynn, Nova Southeastern, Palm Beach Atlantic, Saint Leo and Tampa, will send both men's and women's teams to the meet, while Florida Tech will send a men's team.
There will be six separate award ceremonies throughout the two-day event with the team championships handed out following the women's 4x400m relay scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. start on Saturday.
Following the opening event of the meet (110m hurdles prelims), there will be three more prelim events including the women's 100m hurdles, and the men's and women's 400m. The first final of the event will take place at 5 p.m. as the men's 3,000m steeplechase gets underway. The women's steeplechase follows just 20 minutes later. Six more preliminary events follow including the men's and women's 100m, the men's and women's 800m and the men's and women's 400m hurdles. The men's 10,000m final is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. Friday night followed by a pair of preliminary 200m races. The final event of Friday night is the women's 10,000m which is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
Saturday is a full day of finals starting with the 4x100m relays (M/W) at noon and 12:10. The 1,500m (M/W), 110m hurdles and 100m hurdles follow before an awards ceremony is held for the opening six events. The 400m (M/W) and 100m (M/W) are next followed by a second awards ceremony of the day. The 800m (m/W) and 400m hurdles (M/W) start at 2:20 p.m. before the penultimate awards ceremony. The final six events on the docket include the 200m (M/W), 5,000m (M/W) and 4x400m relays (M/W). The final awards ceremony will take place following the women's 4x400m relay.
The FSC men's team has 11 top-five times over five events according to the latest SSC performance list. Junior
Cole Summers has the top 10,000m time in the SSC this season while senior
Chris Colavita holds the top 5,000m time in the SSC. Senior
Anthony Matthew boasts the second-best 800m time this season in the SSC while Colavita holds the second-best 10,000m time. Junior
Michael Toppi is ranked third in the 10,000m while Summers ranks third in the 5,000m. Junior
Dillon Mantei holds the third-best 3,000m steeplechase time this season in the league. Sophomore
Andrew Nyland comes in with the fourth-best 800m performance this season in the SSC while Toppi holds the fourth fastest 5,000m time this season. The final top-five ranked Moccasin is sophomore
Eli Zuppa who is fifth in the 10,000m.
Last season, the Moccasins swept the podium in the 10,000m as well as the 3,000m steeplechase. FSC also took home a win in the 5,000m while also capturing third in the event. The only other top-three finish came in the 1,500m as Matthew took second. FSC took home the inaugural Championship last season with 111 points to edge out Tampa (94) and Embry-Riddle (91).
The women hold three top-five times over three events heading into the weekend. Junior
Grace Reed holds the top time in the 10,000m heading into the championship while ranking second in both the 1,500m and 5,000m.
The women took fifth overall last season at the SSC Championships while earning a pair of top-three finishes. FSC took home second in the 5,000m and third in the 10,000m. The University of Tampa took home the team championship with 157 points followed by Embry-Riddle (114) and Nova Southeastern (81).
