Embry Riddle Cross-Country Classic
30 NCAA, NAIA, and JUCO teams from as far away as New Jersey and the Caribbean competed at the Embry-Riddle Cross-County Classic Saturday on the most challenging cross-country course in Florida. The men's team finished 8th and the women's team was 10th.
Freshman Jaxon McKim finish a mere 12 seconds behind sophomore Brennan Popik who led the men's team for the 4th straight week. The pair was followed closely by Luke Williams, Adrian Figueroa, Noe Benitez, Corey Rhoads, and Nicholas Terry. A blistering kick from sophomore Adrian Figueroa over the last 200m moved the men to 8th place just 3 points ahead of NCAA D1 rivals Bethune- Cookman University "We saw a much tighter pack time (2:04) from our Top 5 than any meet this season and that's very encouraging." Commented Head coach Jody Hale.
Freshman Lynn Winkler moved up the team ranking 3 spots to lead the women's team to a 10th place finish just 3 points ahead of cross state region 8 rivals the Panthers from South Florida State. Zandi Pienaar followed just 25 seconds back. Meghan Bonser, Kayleigh McWatters, both finished just 3 seconds behind in the same time. Whitney Mathis finished 45 seconds later for a pack time of 1:20. Sophomore Abigail Gray chopped almost 5 minutes of her time on the same course last year. "We came with a race plan and the women executed it perfectly. Only 1 minute and 20 seconds separated Lynn and Whitney (the top 5 scorers) and that pack time will work to our advantage in the post season big meets." Added Coach Hale when asked about the team's performance.
The teams have a bye week this weekend and will travel to South Florida State on the 30th to compete in the South Florida State College Panther XC Invitational.