TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (November 15, 2022) - The 2022 cross country season ran its final event on Tuesday, the NJCAA Half Marathon.

The 13.1 mile race was held along Miller Landing Road, offering runners the opportunity to run beneath one of Tallahassee's most iconic canopy roads. Unlike Saturday's cross country championships, which featured above-average temperatures, Tuesday's race called for cooler temps and rain. Fortunately, the latter never panned out, providing runners with near-ideal conditions. 

After years of low participation numbers, to the point the event was in jeopardy, close to 250 runners entered this year's pair of championship races. 

The women hit the start line first and El Paso (Texas) Community College's Faith Nyathi led virtually wire-to-wire, claiming the individual title in a time of 1:19:59. 

Daytona State College's Shannon Jones put the finishing touch on an outstanding freshman season with a third-place finish in a time of 1:28:04. Teammate Harleigh Crist was the next Region 8 runner to cross the finish line placing 18th with a time of 1:35:08. 

It was Pasco-Hernando State College, however, who came out on top in the team standings, thanks to a trio of runners - Shelby Viseur (1:35:39), Maranda Hildebrand (1:37:42) and Gabrielle Marshall (1:37:42) - finishing 20th, 22nd and 23rd, respectively. Breaking up the run of Bobcats was Florida Gateway College's Kayla DesMartin, who placed 21st (1:36:20). 

Pasco-Hernando State finished in sixth place with 65 points in scoring, while Daytona State placed seventh with 72 points. Florida Gateway was eighth with 82 points.

South Florida State College finished 12th and the College of Central Florida placed 14th.

Pensacola State College was represented but did not qualify for team scoring. 

Iowa Central Community College won its sixth team title while New Mexico Junior College and El Paso finished second and third, respectively.

In the men's race, it was again Daytona State and Pasco-Hernando State battling for Region 8 bragging rights. This time, the Falcons came out on top, finishing in ninth place with 113 points, just one spot and one spot clear of the Bobcats (10th place, 114 points).

Daytona State's Sebastian Hernandez was the top Region 8 runner, finishing 11th in a time of 1:09:47. 

Pasco-Hernando State's Tom Palamar was next, finishing 27th in a time of 1:13:39. The Bobcats Luis Cruzado (40th, 1:17:56) and Ronnie Aeschleman (47th, 1:18:49) both finished in front of Daytona State's number two runner, Richard Lebron (48th, 1:19:09) but it was not enough to overcome Hernandez' 11th-place finish. 

Iowa Central's Aspel Kiprob was the men's individual winner while Northwest Kansas Technical College took the team title.

The 2022 season marked Tallahassee's first time to host the NJCAA Cross Country and Half Marathon Championships. The 2023 event will take place in Huntsville, Ala.