TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Cross Country) – The Florida College System Activities Association (FCSAA) has announced the 2022-23 Scholar-Athlete of the Year winners for its nine championship sports. Colton Berquist was named the Larry Monts Award recipient for men's cross country.
This award is named after Larry Monts who was a coach and a professor at the former Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ), now Florida State College at Jacksonville, from 1967 to 2001. He coached both men's and women's cross country and track & field, led FCCJ to two cross country national championships, and coached 43 NJCAA All-Americans.
Berquist was a strong leader for the Lake-Sumter State College (LSSC) men's cross country team in the 2022 season. In October, he broke the Lakehawk 8K record at back-to-back meets to now obtain the top-two spots in the program's short history.
Berquist was an All-FCSAA performer at the Region 8 championship after a third-place finish in the race to lead the Lakehawks to a second-place team finish. He also helped the team to a program-best eighth place finish at the national championship meet.
"Colton's character, academic commitment, and athletic prowess truly exhibit his personal qualities as a student-athlete. His resume clearly represents his breadth of experience and willingness to excel in the classroom, while making contributions in his sport and to the community," said athletic director Mike Matulia.
The Winter Park. Fla. native completed his A.A. degree from LSSC in May of 2023, graduating with academic excellence honors after maintaining a 3.80 GPA. Berquist was also a participating member of the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society during his time at Lake-Sumter.
At the annual Lakehawk awards banquet, known as the Hawkspys, Berquist was named The Robert & Merrel Westrick Male Student Athlete of the Year for his all-around academic and athletic performance as well as his dedication to serving his community in and around the South Lake campus.
In addition to his academic and athletic achievement, Berquist was also very active in the community. He has volunteered for local 5K runs and youth and high school track events, as well as professional track meets at Clermont's National Training Center.
Berquist has also been involved with various LSSC Foundation activities and student events, including the annual Monster Dash 5K and the Welcome Back Bash. He also volunteers with the Lake County Library annual book sale.
Head Coach Cristy Snellgroves spoke on Berquist's award, "Colton has established a standard of excellence as a student-athlete leading from the front both academically and athletically. He came to LSSC with big goals and dreams and through hard work and dedication, he has achieved them.
"I am very proud of Colton and his legacy will continue to inspire others at Lake-Sumter," said Coach Snellgroves.
After a very successful two-year career at Lake-Sumter, Berquist will move on to run at the Division I level at Tulsa University.
Berquist now moves on for consideration for the FCSAA Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year, which are part of the FCSAA End-of-Year Awards. The announcement will be released on Friday, June 23.
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