Atkinson Finishes Top 5 at St. Leo

Leesburg, Fla. – This week, the Lake-Sumter State College men's team went to the St. Leo DII Pre-National Invite with one runner competing at the UCF Invitational.

Several of the top programs from around the country turned out for the St. Leo Pre-Nationals Invite on Saturday. The course consisted of three loops and relentless hills throughout. According to Head Coach, Cristy Snellgroves, "It was easily the toughest course we have competed on up to this point."

With two of the Lakehawks runners sidelined this weekend, Nicholas Atkinson stepped up and ran the best time for Lake-Sumter with a 28:05.8. Atkinson's time placed him fifth among NJCAA runners and 68^th overall in the pool of more than 125 competitors. Zachary Paladino and Cooper Krug finished seventh and eighth respectively. The final two runners to cross the finish line for LSSC were Colton Berquist and Julio Rojas.

"This was a really, really tough course and I think it will really benefit us going in to Apalachee Park for the next two meets," said Snellgroves. "I couldn't be prouder of Nic Atkinson. He is a role model and leader for our young team and keeps pushing himself week to week, running a season best 28:05 on Saturday. I look forward to his performance at the Regional meet at the end of the month, where I know he will be ready to compete with the top guys."

Tyler Skelton ran at the UCF Invitational coming in sixth in the NJCAA ranks with a time of 24:01.4. Snellgroves said of Skelton's performance, "Tyler made great improvements this week and is getting stronger and stronger. I look for him to improve over the next two meets."

The final meet of the regular season comes in the form of the Florida State University Invitational at Apalachee Regional Park. A precursor to the Region 8 meet two weeks later at the same location.