FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Championships Top 25 Times
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (October 28, 2022) – Daytona State College's Sebastian Hernandez posted a Championship 8K record time (25:34.5), leading the Falcons to the Division II FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Men's Cross Country Championship on Friday morning at Apalachee Regional Park.
Meanwhile, Eastern Florida State College claimed the Division I NJCAA Region 8 team title behind the performance of Dayton Law, who ran a 26:38.3 to claim the Individual Championship.
Division I
Eastern Florida State, a first-year program under the direction of head coach Doug Butler, finished with 20 points in the team scoring to outpace runners-up Seminole State College (35 points).
In addition to Law, the Titans' Gabriel Garcia (2nd place, 27:30.7), Charlie Dickinson (3rd place, 27:36.2) and Josh Ingalls (6th place, 28:35.6) finished inside the top seven to earn a spot on the NJCAA All-Region 8 team.
Law's first-place finish also garnered him NJCAA Region 8 Men's Runner of the Year honors.
Seminole State was represented on the NJCAA All-Region 8 team by Sam Henery (4th place, 27:50.6), Joe Royston (5th place, 27:58.7) and Sebastian Kruger-Lagomarsino (7th place, 29:21.6).
Division II
Daytona State finished with 21 points in the team scoring, comfortably ahead of runners-up Lake-Sumter State College (53 points) and third-place Pasco-Hernando State College (79), who was making its debut in the men's championship race.
Florida State College at Jacksonville and Tallahassee Community College rounded out the team standings in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Hernandez' time bested former teammate Andy Martinez' previous record of 25:50.3, set at the 2021 Championships.
Hernandez was one of four Falcons who finished in the top seven of the Division II scoring, which qualified for placement on the All-FCSAA/All-NJCAA Region 8 team.
Christian Ruocco finished second (25:53.80) while Jared Falchook (26:50.6) and Julian Pomales (27:18.5) were fourth and sixth, respectively.
They were joined on the All-FCSAA/All-NJCAA Region 8 team by Lake-Sumter State's Colton Berquist (26:04.7), who placed third and Cooper Krug (27:02.2), who finished fifth, and seventh-place finisher Brennan Popik (27:27.6) from Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Daytona State's Judy Wilson was named FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Coach of the Year.
In total, a record 58 runners lined up for Friday's men's race at the ARP, which was hosting its seventh consecutive FCSAA Championships.
The teams will now get ready for a return trip to the ARP for the 2022 NJCAA Division I/II Cross Country Championships on November 12. The NJCAA Half Marathon will also run in Tallahassee, along Miller Landing Road, on November 15.
