Tallahassee, Fla. – Postseason began for the Lake-Sumter State College cross country teams Friday at the Region 8 meet.
Alexander Croy was the first Lakehawk to cross the finish line, but not after a torrid sprint to the end. Croy battled for third the entire race and in the final moment dove in exhaustion to try to overcome his competitor, coming up just 00:00.2 short for fourth place. Nicholas Atkinson placed seventh with a time of 27:29.6. Both Croy and Atkinson earned FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 All-State selections with their performances. William Troupe and Adolfo Saucedo Flores rounded out the top 10 coming in 9th and 10th respectively. A wrong turn on the course hurt Ernesto Velasquez who finished 26th on the day.
After taking down Daytona State at the Jacksonville Invitational Oct. 12, the Falcons stormed back to take first place at the regional meet with LSSC placing second. The top five men's runners are all headed to Fort Dodge, Iowa Nov. 14 for the NJCAA National Cross Country Championships.
"This team really stepped up to the plate this week," said Head Coach Cristy Snellgroves. "This event marked just the third time this year we have ran an 8k and I could not be prouder of how they executed."
On the women's side of the event, Kyja Williams put a stamp on what has been an excellent season-long campaign. Early on, three runners broke away from the pack, including the Lakehawks sophomore. After a back and forth battle with the first-place finisher from Daytona State, Williams finished second overall with a time of 20:38.1. A personal best by 20 seconds. With her performance, Kyja earned FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 All-State honors and punched her ticket to Nationals in two weeks.
Isabella Panganiban finished in the top 50 boasting a season best time of 26:57.2. Coming in behind her was teammate Victoria Bell, who also suffered a course miscalculation that hurt her final time. Michelle Dudley completed the event with a personal best time, while Chloe Grozdanich ran a season best time herself.
"Each runner ran a personal best or a season best and that's all I can ask for as a coach." Snellgroves said. "They left it all out on the course and to see where they started and how far they've come, it's been nothing short of impressive."
Snellgroves recalls a visit by LSSC President, Dr. Stanley Sidor. "Dr. Sidor came to the track last week and shared some of his experiences running collegiate cross country at Aquinas. The student-athletes were inspired by the pursuit of excellence modeled by Dr. Sidor and took that enthusiasm to the starting line with them this week." She continued, "We are all mindful of the challenging environment we find ourselves and feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to participate and compete in our sport and have such exemplary leadership at LSSC to guide us through these unprecedented times."
The final stop in the 2020 Cross Country season is Fort Dodge, Iowa where NJCAA runners from around the country will gather to compete for top supremacy on the course. More information on the event will be added to the web site when it is available.